THE 

HOME 
GARDEN 

EBEN E. M.Xf ORB 




Class 

Book._ 



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THE HOME GARDEN 



PATRIOTS' EDITION 



Amateur Gardencraft 



By EBEN E. REXFORD 

TREATING of all the desirable varieties of 
trees, shrubs, vines, species of flowers and 
ornamental plants, arbors, summer houses, 
pergolas, new garden features, the requisites for a 
velvety lawn, as well as instructions for the elimi- 
nation of insect pests. 

Profusely illustrated. i2mo. Cloth, $1.50 net. 

Four Seasons in the Garden 

By EBEN E. REXFORD 

A BOOK on gardening for the home-maker by 
the foremost amateur gardener of the United 
States. It treats of all phases of the subject, 
from the simple bed or two along the fence, in a 
city back yard, to the most ambitious garden the 
happy suburbanite or country dweller can manage 
without the services of a professional. 

The growing of house plants and the^ use of 
plants for household and table decoration are 
thoroughly described, and a couple of chapters on 
rural and village improvement carry the home 
gardening plan into the larger field of community 
work. 

Twenty-six illustrations in tint. Colored frontis- 
piece. Decorated title-page and lining-papers. 
i2mo. Cloth, $i.so net. 



J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS PHILADELPHIA 











The 
Home Garden 






A BOOK ON VEGETABLE AND SMALL-FRUIT 
GROWING, FOR THE USE OF THE 
AMATEUR GARDENER 






By 

EBEN E. REXFORD 

n 

Author of "Four Seasons in the Garden," "Indoor 
Gardening," "Amateur Gardencraft," etc. 






rriTH iL LUSTRA no ns 
PATRIOTS' EDITION 






m 






PHILADELPHIA LONDON 
J. B. LIrPINCOTT COMPANY 
1918 











1 <?t ) 



Copyright, 1909 

BY 

J. B. LippiNcoTT Company 
Copyright, 1918 

BY 

J. B. LiPPiNcoTT Company 



Electrotyped and printed by J. B, Lippincott Company 
The Washington Square Press » Philadelphia^ U* S. A* 



MAY 22 i9l8 



©GI,A497415 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Foreword 9 

I. Location and Soil 21 

II. The Preparation of the Garden 28 

III, Planning the Garden 36 

IV. Planting the Garden ' 44 

V. Garden Implements 51 

VI. Weeding AND Transplanting 60 

VII. The Hot-Bed and Cold-Frame 67 

Vin. Insecticides and Fungicides 75 

IX. What TO Grow 81 

X. What to Grow {Continued) 94 

XI. What to Grow (Contimted) 109 

XII. Greens and Miscellaneous Plants 121 

XIII. Asparagus and Rhubarb 127 

XIV. Strawberries 134 

XV. Raspberries and Blackberries 143 

XVI. The Currant AND the Gooseberry 155 

XVII. The Grape 161 

The Gardener's Calendar 167 



LIST of ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 

A Home Garden Frontispiece 



A Fine Group from the Home Garden 14 

An Ideal Vegetable Garden 22 

Sash, Mats and Shutters for Hot-Beds 72 

Cabbage, Jersey Wakefield 86 

Just Gathered from the Stalks 94 

A Thrifty Melon Patch 100 

A Protected Strawberry Bed 135 



FOREWORD 



The writer of this little book is a firm believer 
in a vegetable garden for every family so situated 
that it can have one. This for several reasons : 

First. — garden, well cared for, will furnish 
half if not more of the living for a family of 
ordinary size, provided, of course, it is made 
up of persons who are fond of vegetables. Not 
only is this possible through the summer, but 
the year round, for many of our best vegetables 
can be carried through the winter in fine con- 
dition with but very little trouble. And it 
need not be a large garden to do this. The old 
theory — which was not a theory, after all, but 
a fact — that '*a little piece of land, well tilled'' 
is a source of revenue that the wise man cannot 
afford to overlook, holds true in this case as 
much as it does when the farm is considered. 
I know of no other way in which such a goodly 
share of the family living can be secured; 
therefore I urge the making of a garden as a 
means of support for the family. 

9 



Foreword 



Second, — Persons who are fond of vegetables 
frequently have reason to complain of the 
lack of freshness and flavor of those bought. 
It stands to reason that they cannot retain 
their best qualities for several days, no matter 
how carefully they may be kept. Because of 
this drawback, those who would otherwise use 
vegetables liberally in the household go with- 
out them. Consequently, in order to get fine, 
fresh ones, grow your own. 

Third. — Often the appetite of the family 
fails when confined to a narrow diet. ''Things 
don't taste good," they say. ''Let's have a 
change." If plenty of good vegetables were 
used, there need be no complaint of this kind, 
because they furnish that variety which pre- 
vents the appetite from becoming jaded. Vege- 
tables are to the daily bill of fare what the 
soup and the salad are to the ordinary meal. 
Use them freely, cook them in so many ways 
that each time they seem like something new, 
and there will be no complaint about monot- 
ony of food. Especially will the woman of 
the household appreciate a garden, because it 
will enable her to so vary the daily bill of fare 
that "the men-folks" will be perfectly satisfied 



Foreword 



with her management of this department of 
household work. 

Fourth. — The writer believes that a vege- 
table diet is healthier than one in which meats 
and other heavy foods predominate. There- 
fore, on hygienic grounds, he would advise 
everybody who can do so to have a garden. 

I am well aware that most men do not seem 
to look upon gardening with much favor. They 
class it in with other ''puttering" jobs, and 
are glad to tum it over to the children and the 
women-folk. Now women, as a general thing, 
are too busy with their household work to find 
time to plant, and hoe, and weed, and the boys 
and girls can hardly be expected to do much 
in the gardening line without some one to show 
them what needs doing, and how to do it. This 
being the case, the garden left wholly to the 
care of women and children is generally a fail- 
ure, and because it is so the men of the family 
declare that ''gardens don't pay." True, stick 
gardens do not pay. But a garden well cared 
for — a garden treated as scientifically as the 
average farmer treats his cornfield or his 
meadow — will pay, and pay better than any 
other part of the farm. And this with but 

II 



Foreword 



little work, for it does not require a great deal 
of labor to make a garden and keep it clean. If 
it is planned well and given regular attentio'i, 
such as is given other portions of the farm, 
those who have pronounced gardening ''a snare 
and a delusion'' will be obliged to admit that 
they were mistaken. Raise the garden, there- 
fore, to the dignity to which it is justly entitled, 
and care for it as it ought to be cared for, and 
you will soon discover wherein you made your 
mistake when you declared that you hadn't 
any time to fool away on garden trash." 

Men are so accustomed to the use of machin- 
ery in ordinary farm-work that it is not to be 
wondered at that they do not take kindly to 
the manual labor involved in weeding the gar- 
den after the old order of things. But there is 
little necessity for this kind of work nowadays. 
We have so many implements designed ex- 
pressly for garden use — implements that do 
their work rapidly and perfectly — that hand- 
work is almost done away with. When this 
fact is realized fully — and that will be after 
one season's trial of our modem garden machin- 
ery — not one man in ten will look upon work 
in the garden with disfavor. He will realize 

12 



Foreword 



that the menial drudgery of gardening opera- 
tions is a thing of the past, and he will also 
find that the boys and girls of the family will 
be delighted to assume largely the responsibil- 
ity of keeping the garden in proper condition, 
because operating the machinery of it will 
seem more like play than work to them. With 
the modem cultivator equipped with a variety 
of shovels and hoe-teeth, to suit all kinds of 
vegetables, one can do more work in an hour, 
and do it a great deal better, than could be 
done all day with the ordinary hoe, and this 
with but small expenditure of muscle. A 
woman finds that a few minutes' work with 
the garden cultivator rests her because of the 
change it affords from housework. It fur- 
nishes an exercise which brings half dormant 
muscles into play, and it takes her out of doors 
wriere she gets the tonic of fresh air and sun- 
shine. 

Let me urge every one, therefore, to have 
a garden, if possible. Especially the man who 
needs some kind of outdoor work to counteract 
the debilitating effects of indoor occupation. 
The clerk, the book-keeper, the minister, the 
student, — any one whose occupation is more 

13 



Foreword 



or less sedentary, — will get health and pleasure 
and profit out of even a garden so small as to 
seem hardly worth the name. 

Those who know nothing of gardens are 
quite likely to make the mistake of thinking 
that it is not worth while to do anything in 
this line unless one has considerable space to 
devote to it. Of course the larger the garden 
the more can be grown in it, but it does not 
necessarily follow from this that a good deal 
cannot be grown on a small piece of ground. I 
have often been astonished to see how many 
vegetables could be grown in the back yard of 
a village or city home. Those who are familiar 
with the garden literature of twenty or twenty- 
five years ago, will no doubt remember a little 
book by Charles Barnard, entitled ''My Hand- 
kerchief Garden," in which the author tells a 
most entertaining story of what he succeeded 
in growing on a tiny bit of groxmd. To the 
inexperienced the book reads more like a fairy 
tale than an3rthing else, and those who ''don't 
take stock in gardens" have ridiculed it, de- 
claring that it tells of a garden that existed 
on paper orJy. But this I know to be untrue. 
The garden written about actually existed, and 

14 



A FINE GROUP FROM THE HOME GARDEN 

Note the well blanched celery, the length of the ear of corn and the 
size of the onion in comparison with its leaf .stem. 



Foreword 



the writer grew in it all the vegetables he men- 
tions. He began the work because the state 
of his health made it advisable for him to spend 
some time out of doors every day, after having 
done his regular literary work. It occurred 
to him that it would be a good idea to keep a 
record of his gardening operations, and in this 
way the book came to be written. It is a record 
of facts, not fancy. It set the people to think- 
ing, for it opened their eyes to the truth that a 
good deal can be grown in a small space, that 
garden-work is pleasant when one enters into 
the real spirit of it, therefore is valuable when 
considered as a recreation simply, and that 
health often comes back to the invalid from 
coming into close contact with Mother Earth. 
The little book was the advance courier of 
much that has since been written about gar- 
dening, and did most excellent work as a mis- 
sionary in a field that had been sadly neglected. 

•Therefore, do not let the fact that you have 
only a small piece of land that can be used for 
gardening purposes prevent you from under- 
taking to have a garden. Begin the work with 
the intention of improving every foot of it, 
and you will be surprised and delighted with 

IS 



Foreword 



the result, for it will prove to you that it is not 
necessary to own an acre of ground in order to 
have a garden. In fact, an acre-garden is too 
large, at least by half, for the ordinary family, 
for it will grow a great many more vegetables 
than can be used. Of course the surplus can 
be disposed of, generally to good pecuniary 
advantage. But this little treatise is not 
intended for market-gardeners. It is written 
to encourage those who would do something to 
help support the family by growing the vege- 
tables they would otherwise have to buy, or go 
without. I have tried to make everything in it 
so plain that the amateur cannot fail to grasp 
the idea I had in mind, and I think he will find 
little difficulty in doing so. Scientific terms 
and scientific methods have been ignored, 
because I find that the average man has but 
little use for them. In short, I have tried to 
make everything in the book simple and prac- 
tical, and I feel confident that any man who 
has never had any experience in gardening 
will, if he follows the instructions given, succeed 
in growing vegetables that he will take pride in, 
and that the family will enjoy far better than 
those which come to them at second hand. 

i6 



Foreword 



If I could prevail upon the housewife who 
spends most of her time in the kitchen to relax 
by putting half an hour every day into work 
in the garden, I would feel that I had done her 
a favor which she would be very grateful for, 
after a little. At first thought, it would no 
doubt seem quite absurd to her for me to 
advance the argument that garden- work would 
prove a recreation. She would be likely to laugh 
at my advice, and say that my prescription for 
tired muscles and nerves was simply more 
work, when it must be plain to every sensible 
person that what she needed was less work. 
But if she were to follow out my advice she 
would soon discover that in the change of work 
was to be found the very rest she needed. The 
tonic of outdoor air, the healthy influence that 
comes from contact with the soil, the delight- 
ful companionship with nature, and the inter- 
est that always grows upon us in watching 
*'the green things growing" — all these would 
soon make the half -hour in the garden a pleas- 
ure to look forward to with eagerness. 

I have in mind a half-invalid woman who 
gave up her housework for a season to a capa- 
ble girl, and betook herself to the garden. 
2 17 



Foreword 



Here she worked all day long, in a leisurely 
fashion, it is true, at first, being wise enough 
to proportion her efforts to her strength. Be- 
fore a month had passed she declared that she 
felt like a new woman. She had an appetite 
that would have done credit to a farm-hand. 
She could go to bed now and sleep all night 
long, and her sleep was full of restfulness. Her 
face was brown, but its color was the promise 
of returning health. Before the season was 
ended she declared herself perfectly well. She 
had forgotten that she had ''nerves." That 
summer in a garden she counts as one of the 
important epochs of her life, because it warded 
off the nervous prostration that had threatened 
her. She believes that it was the best kind of 
an outing for her, and every season since then 
she has spent part of every pleasant day in 
work which most women think themselves 
unequal to. The woman who sits down out 
of doors with folded hands, imagining that in 
this way she is going to gain a good deal of 
benefit, is pretty sure to be disappointed. The 
fact is muscles need exercise if you would make 
them strong, and the body that is wearied with 
one kind of work must gain strength by activ- 

i8 



Foreword 



ity of another sort. It is not idleness that is 
needed, for idleness has no tonic in it. What 
is necessary is change, — change of work, change 
of conditions, change of thought. Therefore 
to the overworked housewife I would prescribe 
a season of gardening as better than all the 
doctors' drugs. ''Throw physic to the dogs,'* 
and arm yourself with a hoe and rake, and dig 
for health among the garden beds. Nine times 
out of ten those who seek for it there will find 
it, I feel very sure. 



The Home Garden 



I. 

LOCATION AND SOIL 



Much more depends on the favorable loca- 
tion of the garden than one who has not had 
experience would suppose. The general im- 
pression among amateurs seems to be that soil 
is the all-important item. If the ground is 
rich, there is nothing further to be desired. 
This is all a mistake. Of course it is quite 
necessary that the soil should be rich, but the 
writer knows of many gardens exceptionally 
good in this respect which are not good growers 
of vegetables, simply because they slope away 
from the sun. 

The ideal garden slopes to the south, and 
secures all possible benefit from the sun's rays 
in early spring, when vegetables are getting 
their start. But, unfortunately, ideal garden- 
sites are the exception and not the rule. Per- 

21 



The Home Garden 



haps nine out of ten are flat, or nearly so. We 
must take things as we find them in choosing 
our location, but, as far as possible, choose a 
site which will receive the greatest amount of 
benefit from the sun. Something can be gained 
in a level garden by planting in rows running 
north and south. This will allow the sun to 
shine between them, w^hile rows running east 
and west would cast their shadows over each 
other. 

The first benefit derived from simshine is 
the extraction of tmdue moisture from the soil 
in early spring. The soil that gets rid soonest 
of the moisture from melting snows and early 
rains is the one that can be put in shape at the 
earliest possible date, because it can be made 
mellow and friable several days sooner than 
that which must wait for excessive moisture 
to drain off. When drainage and simshine act 
together, this part of the work is hastened 
greatly, and is done in the most satisfactory 
manner. Therefore, press the stm into service 
as much as you possibly can. 

The second benefit which the soil derives 
from the sun is the warmth which it absorbs 
during the day. It drinks this in very much as 

22 



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Location and Soil 



a dry soil drinks in water, and the good work 
goes on during the night, Kghtening, disinte- 
grating, and vivifying. Sunshine is a tonic to 
any garden, and we cannot have too much of it. 

The third benefit derived is in its quickening 
effect. A moderately rich soil, fully exposed to 
sunshine, will grow earlier vegetables than a 
very rich soil not fully supplied with sunshine. 
One of the secrets of successful vegetable grow- 
ing is in bringing the plants ahead as rapidly 
as possible after they get a start. Vegetables 
that grow slowly are always inferior in quality. 
They lack tenderness and flavor. In order to 
secure these qualities, one must have a quick, 
rich soil, and stmshine enough to give it some- 
thing of the nature of the hot-bed. 

The best soil, all things considered, for the 
successful production of vegetables, is one that 
is rather light and sandy — perhaps what the 
farmer would call a sandy loam. It falls apart 
readily when turned up by the plow, and speed- 
ily becomes mellow under the application of the 
hoe or cultivator. A heavier soil may have 
more strength in it> but it is not as desirable 
for vegetable-growing, because it cannot be 
worked as early in the season, and cannot so 

23 



The Home Garden 



easily be put into satisfactory condition as the 
lighter and more friable soil. What this soil 
lacks in strength can readily be supplied by 
the use of good fertilizers. I have seen gardens 
made out of almost pure sand, heavily manured, 
which grew excellent crops. Here the sand 
was simply an agent by which the nutritive 
qualities of the manure were rendered availa- 
ble. But the vegetables grown in it lacked 
the fine flavor of those grown in a better soil. 
Some sand in a garden is a most excellent thing, 
but good loam is the soil from which best 
results can be expected. 

As has been said regarding the location of 
the garden, we must take things as they are, 
and do what we can to make the most of them. 
Heavy soil can be lightened wonderfully by 
adding coarse, sharp sand as a top dressing, 
and plowing it under. This can be done when 
the ground is manured, and both can be worked 
into the original soil at the same time. The 
benefit of the sand may not be very apparent 
the first season, as it will not be as thoroughly 
incorporated with the native soil then as it 
will be after repeated workings, but there will 
be a decided improvement from the start. If 



Location and Soil 



sand is added several seasons in succession, a 
soil of heavy clay may be made over into what 
might almost be considered loam. Old mortar, 
leaves, litter from the barn-yard,— almost any 
kind of refuse that will decay, or assist in the 
process of disintegration, — can be made use of 
for lightening purposes. 

If the spot chosen for the garden is not 
naturally well drained, it ought to be made so 
artificially. This is a matter of great impor- 
tance. A soil that cannot be made to part 
readily with excess moisture is not one in which 
vegetables can be grown well. If the ground 
slopes in any direction, water will run away 
from force of gravity, but if it is nearly level 
water will settle into it and remain there until 
the soil becomes sour — ^that is if it is a soil that 
is naturally heavy and therefore retentive of 
moisture. A garden in such a location ought 
to be underdrained. Tiling it will accomplish 
the purpose very satisfactorily. If this can- 
not be done for any reason, surface-draining 
can be resorted to, by making ditches at 
each side with laterals to conduct the water 
to them from the centre of the garden. This 
is probably the system most amateur gar- 

25 



The Home Garden 



doners will employ, as it is the simplest and 
easiest method and one that does not require 
skilled labor. 

The writer has seen some very good gardens 
on flat, low lands where nothing could have 
been grown if a system of ditches had not been 
constructed to take the water out of the soil 
several inches below its surface. A broad, 
deep ditch was run entirely around the garden. 
Cross-ditches connected with this. These were 
shallow at the centre, deepening gradually as 
they neared the main ditch. In this way a 
fall was secured that would cause the water to 
run off rapidly from the centre of the garden. 
After a heavy rain the main ditch would be 
half full of water for several hours perhaps, 
but almost always the level of the water was 
below the roots of the plants in the garden, 
consequently they were not affected by it. 
This may have been growing vegetables under 
difficulties, but it proved the truth of the old 
saying that where there 's a will there 's a way, 
and no doubt the products of such gardens 
were appreciated much more than they would 
have been if they had been grown under 
more favorable conditions. I think we always 

26 



Location and Soil 



prize most that which is gained by a good 
deal of effort. 

Therefore let me say to any man who owns 
or can secure control of a piece of ground, make 
a garden on it, and do your very best to make 
it bring forth liberally. You will be amply 
repaid for your labor in more ways than one. 



II. 

THE PREPARATION OF THE GARDEN 



Gardens in which the soil is heavy can be 
benefited by fall plowing. If the grotind is 
turned up and left in ridges as it comes from 
the plow, in October or November, the action 
of frost on it during the winter will have a 
decidedly disintegrating effect, and it will be 
foimd much more tractable in spring than it 
would be if freshly plowed. Of course it will 
need a spring plowing to reduce it to the 
proper condition for working. This second 
plowing will put it in very fair shape for imme- 
diate use, while a few days' exposure to the 
combined effects of sun, air, and possibly 
warm showers, will make it mellower than 
after tw^o weeks of exposure with only one 
plowing. This being the case, I would always 
advise fall plowing for gardens of heavy soil. 
Another benefit is derived from fall plowing. The 
larvae of many worms will be destroyed by frost 
in the upturned furrows. For this reason, if no 

28 



The Preparation of the Garden 



other, fall plowing is advisable. But I would not 
advise fall plowing for the garden whose soil is 
light and porous. Not that plowing in fall would 
injure it, but no particular benefit would accrue, 
and it is just so much unnecessary work. 

Do not make the mistake of applying manure 
in fall, tmless you have so much of it that you 
can afford to waste the greater portion of the 
fall application. Even if plowed under, much 
of its beneficial effect will be lost during the 
late fall rains, which will leach it away to such 
an extent that next season's crops will get but 
little good from it, and, later, by the evapora- 
tion which takes place during winter under 
the action of frost, unless the ground is well 
covered with snow. The idea of evaporation 
in winter may seem absurd to those who have 
given the matter but little thought and have 
not made it one of personal study and investi- 
gation. But it is a fact, nevertheless, that a 
large share of the nutritive properties of man- 
ure applied in fall will be dissipated and lost 
by freezing and thawing. Therefore, unless, 
as has already been said, you have more manure 
than you can use to advantage, hold the supply 
in reserve for spring application. 

29 



The Home Garden 



Before plowing, I would advise running a 
harrow over the ground to collect the stalks 
and debris of last season's crops, of which there 
will doubtless be a goodly quantity unless 
you have been gardener long enough to have 
established the habit of thoroughly cleaning 
up the garden in the fall — a habit to be heart- 
ily encouraged for more reasons than one. If 
the refuse is raked up and disposed of in the 
fall, by burning, or by adding it to the compost 
heap, many eggs of insects which prey upon 
vegetables will be destroyed, and the spores 
of fungoid diseases will be rendered compara- 
tively inert. This is a sufficient reason for a 
general fall cleaning up in the garden, for it is 
the means of saving a great deal of hard work 
which would have to be done next season, if eggs 
and larvae were left to develop. The neat appear- 
ance of a garden in which no refuse is left to 
show itself above the ordinary covering of snow 
is another argument in favor of fall cleaning. 

It may seem to the amateur that the advice 
to run a harrow over the ground before plow- 
ing, if the garden was left uncared for in the 
fall, is more the result of whim than anything 
else, but it is not. Old stalks and roots of last 

30 



The Preparation of the Garden 



year's vegetables will not be wholly plowed 
under, in nine cases out of ten, and these will be 
continually cropping up to clog the teeth of the 
garden cultivator, and interfere with good work. 
The cleaner the soil the better the quality of the 
work you can do in it. Bear this in mind, and 
never leave any refuse to be worked into it. 

When you are ready for plowing, spread 
your manure. Spread it evenly, and use it 
liberally. The ideal manure for the vegetable 
garden is that made up largely of cow-drop- 
pings which have lain long enough to be well 
decomposed. If black and friable, it is in the 
best possible condition. I know of no accurate 
m.ethod of determining the precise quantity 
to use. Much depends on the quality of the 
soil, and more, perhaps, on the strength of the 
manure you use. That which has been kept 
under shelter will be rich in nutriment, while 
that which has been left exposed after leaving 
the bam will have parted with a large percent- 
age of its goodness. There is not much danger 
of making the garden too rich. The principal 
danger from excessive use of bamyard-manure 
is in making the soil so loose that it dries out 
more readily than it otherwise would — more 

31 



The Home Garden 



rapidly than is consistent with healthy veg- 
etable growth. 

Of course the writer is well aware that cow- 
manure is not always obtainable. Horse- 
manure is more plentiful, except in the country. 
While it is a great deal better than nothing, it 
is far from being an excellent manure for vege- 
tables. I would much prefer to use the fer- 
tiHzers kept on sale at agricultural stores. 
These produce excellent results if one is careful 
to fit the fertilizer to the soil. By that I mean 
using just the kind adapted to the soil of your 
garden. Soils vary greatly even in the same 
neighborhood, and the fertilizer that answers 
admirably in one locality may not be what is 
needed in another. The only way to decide 
this matter is to get the advice of some one 
who understands the nature of the soil in your 
garden, and knows what kind of fertilizer will 
work best in it. He will be able to tell you what 
quantity to use, and how to apply it in such a 
manner as to secure the best results. The dealer 
in your neighborhood ought to be able to tell you 
these things. These commercial fertilizers have 
one advantage over the best of cow-mxanure, and 
that is, they never contain seeds of any weeds. 

32 



The Preparation of the Garden 



Plow your garden early in the season, but 
not until the ground is in what is called good 
working condition. It is possible to plow it 
as soon as the frost is out of the ground, but 
it is not good policy to do so. Wait until most 
of the water from snow and rain has had a 
chance to drain away. If you turn up a fur- 
row while the ground is wet and sticky, it will 
drop from the plow in chunks, and probably 
remain in that condition for a considerable 
length of time. But if you wait until surplus 
moisture is out of the ground, the soil will be 
pretty likely to cram.ble apart readily espe- 
cially after it has been exposed to sun and rain 
for a short time. You gain nothing by too early 
plowing, as most amateurs seem to think. In 
fact, you lose tim.e by it, for the later plowing 
of a well-drained soil will put the garden in good 
working condition a few days sooner that it will 
be if plowed while wet and cold. Here is one of 
the instances where haste makes waste — of time. 

Always plow your garden in such a manner 
as to get the longest possible furrow. The 
fewer turns you have to make, the better will 
the work be done. The amateur may not 
understand the logic of this assertion until he 
3 33 



The Home Garden 



begins gardening, but he will speedily do so 
when he observes the effect of long and short 
furrows. Deep or shallow plowing must be 
determined largely by the nature of the soil. 
If the surface is of loam, with a sub-soil of clay, 
do not go deep enough to bring up much of the 
latter. But if the loam is of considerable depth, 
deep plowing is advisable, because it brings 
fresh, strong soil to the surface. 

After plowing, use the harrow to pulverize 
and level the soil. It is a good plan to run this 
implement both lengthwise and crosswise of 
the garden, for by so doing the soil is more 
evenly settled than it can be by going over it 
in one direction only. The harrow should have 
long, slender teeth which will go down into the 
soil well and tear apart everything in the shape 
of sod or masses of fine roots. Simply skimming 
the soil is not of much benefit, except for the 
purpose of levelling. 

The foregoing advice on the preparation of 
the garden is based on the supposition that 
your plat of ground is large enough to warrant 
the use of the plow. But perhaps the majority 
of gardens are so small that a plow could not 
be used to advantage in them. These will 

34 



The Preparation of the Garden 

have to be prepared by spading. The labor 
of getting them ready for the reception of seed 
will be more than is demanded in the garden 
where the plow can be made use of, but it will 
not be found so excessive as most amateurs 
may imagine. If you provide yourself with a 
thin-bladed spade and keep it sharp, the work 
can be done rapidly, and it will not be found as 
exhaustive as you most likely thought would 
be the case before you settled down to business. 
One will be surprised to see how much ground 
can be spaded up in an hour. A little time 
devoted to this work each day for a week or so 
will put the garden of the ordinary village lot 
in proper shape for planting. I am not sure 
but the spaded garden has some advantages 
over the plowed one. The soil can be turned 
up just where you want it, and as you want it, 
by the use of the spade, while the plow works 
alike throughout the garden, though the soil 
may vary in depth and nature to a considerable 
extent. A spaded garden always looks best 
at the beginning, and looks count in gardening 
as well as elsewhere. But the gardener who 
has a liking for neatness will make his garden 
look well, after a little, in spite of all obstacles. 

35 



HI. 

PLANNING THE GARDEN 



The arrangement of the garden is a matter 
of more importance than one unfamiliar with 
garden- work would naturally suppose. The 
amateur is likely to think that it matters very 
little how it is arranged, so long as seeds are 
put into the ground and crops are harvested 
from it. The item of labor is not taken into 
consideration w^hen this opinion is formulated. 
It is possible to economize nearly if not quite 
half the work by so planning the garden that 
what is done in it can be done to the greatest 
possible advantage. 

Time was when the average garden was 
made up of beds five or six feet across, and 
varying in length according to the amount of 
each kind of vegetable grown in them, a bed 
being devoted to each. The rows generally 
ran across these beds instead of lengthwise of 
them, and to get at the centre of the bed in 
weeding one w^as obliged to get down on hands 

36 



Planning the Garden 



and knees and reach out at arm's length. In 
very small gardens this may be as good an 
arrangement as any, because beds there will 
be narrow and less difficult to get at, but in 
gardens of ordinary size beds are no longer con- 
sidered advisable, for more reasons than one. 
They waste space, because paths must be left 
between them; they give short rows, w^hich 
necessitate much more w^ork in cultivating 
than the long rows which do away with fre- 
quent turns for the adjustment of the cultiva- 
tor ; and they prevent the gardener from doing 
as thorough work, because there is not the 
same chance to do it in a five- or six-foot row 
that there is in a long one where the action of 
the cultivator is not constantly interrupted. 
Of course beds can be kept as free from weeds 
as long rows can, but the point is it will require 
a good deal more work to do so, and what I am 
aiming at in this little book, is to so encourage 
the systematization of matters that work will 
be reduced to the minimum, because I am well 
aware that the less drudgery there is connected 
with garden-work the more gardens there will 
likely be. 

Another argument for long-row planting is 

37 



The Home Garden 



that such vegetables as require support, like 
peas, lima beans, and tomatoes, can be trained 
to much better advantage in the row than in 
the bed. When grown in beds, vines are likely 
to form a tangled network of branches, making 
it impossible to get to all parts easily without 
breaking them, while in row^s it is an easy matter 
to get to each side without any risk of injury. 
This argument holds good in the matter of 
weeding. 

In planting in rows, uniform width ought 
not to be planned, because vegetables vary so 
much in size that some require but half the 
space needed by others. Cucumbers and 
squashes, for instance, will require a row two 
or three times as wide as peas, beans, cabbages, 
beets, salsify, and most vegetables of more or 
less upright growth. Therefore, before making 
the garden, plan where you are going to grow 
the different kinds of vegetables, and locate 
them with due regard to their habit of growth. 
Corn is upright in habit, but it must have 
plenty of room on all sides in order to do well. 
Potatoes spread considerably and must also 
have plenty of elbow-room. These will require 
two or three feet of space in the row. But 

38 



Planning the Garden 



salsify, parsnips, beets, early beans, and all 
the kinds of vegetables used as ''greens," are 
of more or less compact habit, and can be 
grown in rows a foot wide and have all the 
room they need in which to fully develop. The 
space between rows need not be more than a 
foot wide, if the garden is a small one, though 
a foot and a half would be more convenient. 

It is an excellent plan for the amateur to 
make a diagram of his proposed garden before 
beginning work on it. Put it down on paper. 
Decide, first of all, what vegetables are to be 
grown, then decide where you will grow them. 
Locate them on your diagram the same as 
you propose to have them in your garden, 
taking pains, as suggested, to group each class 
of plants by themselves, as far as possible, — 
the term ''class," in this connection, .having 
reference solely to habit of growth rather fhan 
family relationship. 

If the rows of the garden must run east and 
west, put tall-growing vegetables, like com, 
on the north rows. Next to them beans of 
the pole or climbing varieties, then peas. This 
is advised, because those of tallest groT\i:h will 
get the benefit of the sun without shading 

39 



The Home Garden 



those of lower growth, as they would if planted 
on the sunward side. It is very necessary that 
sunshine should be reckoned with as an impor- 
tant factor in vegetable growing, and every 
thing should be done with a view to getting 
the greatest possible amount of benefit from it. 

I would most earnestly advise the thorough 
cultivation of every portion of the garden 
enclosure. Most gardens are surrounded by 
a border of grass or weeds, it being somewhat 
difficult to run the plow close to the fence, 
hedge, or whatever marks the boundary line. 
This growth harbors worms and insects, and 
is constantly encroaching upon the cultivated 
soil. After the plow has done its work, take 
the spade and turn under every bit of sward. 
Turn it under deeply, that the grass may be 
smothered, and you have no further trouble 
from it. If you simply skim the surface, and 
invert the sod, it will not be long before the 
grass will grow up through it, and by the end 
of the season, or sooner, you will have as much 
sward as ever. Get rid of it, once for all, by 
doing the work thoroughly. Keep in mind 
the fact that a garden of the kind under con- 
sideration is for the purpose of growing vege- 

40 



Planning the Garden 



tables and vegetables only, and see that all 
the strength of the soil goes into their produc- 
tion, and not into the growth of weeds and 
grass which are such aggressive things that 
they will appropriate the lion's share of nutri- 
ment, if allowed to do so. 

If any portion of the garden is favored by 
greater exposure to the sun than other parts 
of it are, reserve this for such crops as radish, 
spinach, and early onions, whose growth must 
be as rapid as possible to be most satisfactory. 
A slow development of any of these vegetables 
means toughness and lack of flavor. You must 
force them ahead as rapidly as possible in 
order to secure best results, and in doing this 
richness of soil and warmth have to be com- 
bined. Of course the earliest crops of such 
vegetables as the radish and lettuce will be 
started, if not matured, in the hot-bed, but 
there should always be a succession of sowings, 
in order to secure a supply during the greater 
part of summer, and these later sowings will 
generally be made in the open ground, hence 
the necessity of giving them the best places 
in the garden. If the soil in which these vege- 
tables are to be planted is not naturally light 

41 



The Home Garden 



and loamy, it is a wise thing to add sand enough 
to make it light and friable, and to make use 
of such fertilizers as are quickest in effect. It 
is the early vegetable which will be most highly 
appreciated. 

It is always well to plan for a rotation of 
crops as far as possible. In words, give your 
vegetables new locations each year if you can 
conveniently do so. This is advisable because 
most vegetables exhaust the soil in which they 
grow of certain elements necessary to their 
satisfactory development, and to plant them 
in a soil which you know to be lacking in these 
elements is poor practice. By shifting them 
about, year after year, we can generally secure 
favorable locations for them. If not ideal, 
this plan will certainly be an improvement on 
the short-sighted policy of confining vege- 
tables to the same place in the garden season 
after season. If vegetable-growing is studied 
in a scientific way we can readily ascertain 
what elements are extracted from the soil by 
this, that, or the other vegetable, and the loss 
can be made good, to a great extent, by the 
use of fertilizers which can supply the soil 
with the material from which to construct the 

42 



Planning the Garden 



elements that have been drawn upon most 
heavily. In other words, we can give back to 
the soil that which has been taken from it, 
and fit it for the development of anything we 
attempt to grow by the employment of proper 
agents. In order to fully understand this 
subject it will be necessary for the student- 
gardener to inform himself as to the peculiari- 
ties of the various fertilizers on the market, also 
the peculiarities of the soil in his garden. But 
if he does not care to do this, let him consult 
with some person who has made a success of 
vegetable-growing, and be governed by his 
advice. This is, nine times out of ten, more 
satisfactory than experimenting, unless one's 
experiments can be carried on under the super- 
vision of a practical man who has outgrown 
the experimenting period. 



IV. 

PLANTING THE GARDEN 



As has been said in another chapter, it is 
unwise to begin work in the garden too early 
in the season. The ground must be given 
time to get rid of excessive moisture before 
it is safe to do much with it. Vegetables for 
the earlier crops must be started in the hot-bed 
rather than in the open ground, therefore very 
early work in the garden proper is not as neces- 
sar\^ as some amateurs seem to think, in order 
to raise early crops. The hot-bed starts them, 
the garden matures them, and thus the need for 
very early planting in beds is done away with. 

Plowing can generally be done to the best 
advantage about the middle of April, at the 
north. It will not be safe to plant tender 
vegetables before the first of ^lay, because of 
frosts which are almost sure to occur, and in 
some localities the middle of the month is 
quite early enough. Each person vnll have to 
familiarize himself with local conditions, and 

44 



Planting the Garden 



be governed accordingly. Of course it is not 
possible for anyone to tell positively what the 
weather is going to be, but old residents will 
be able to tell you what may reasonably be 
expected in your locality, and it is safe to be 
governed by the wisdom which has grown out 
of years of obser\'ation on their part. 

It must be borne in mind that earliest plant- 
ings do not always give the earliest returns. 
The thing to aim at is to get the seed in the 
ground just as soon as the latter is in the right 
condition for it, and not before. If seed is planted 
before the soil is warm and while it is wet, the 
chances are that it will fail to germinate. Even 
if it does come up it will make a slow, poor 
gro\\i:h until such time as weather and soil 
are favorable, and quite often, by that time, 
seedlings from early planting will be in a dis- 
eased condition which will prevent them from 
doing themselves justice until the effects of 
too early planting have been overcome. And 
by that time, nine times out of ten, seedlings 
from later plantings, when everything was 
favorable to healthy, vigorous growth, will 
have got ahead of them. It will therefore be 
seen that the gardener who gets his seed into 

45 



The Home Garden 



the ground first is not the one who is surest of 
growing the earliest or the best crops. 

The soil of the garden should be in a condi- 
tion to pulverize readily before anjrthing is 
sown in it. Lumpy soil means the failure of 
a good deal of seed to grow. 

I have already spoken o£ the use of the har- 
row, after plowing, to level the surface of the 
ground. We will suppose that this has been 
done, and that the soil is warm and dry enough 
to warrant us in getting it ready for seed. The 
first thing to do is to bring out our diagram and 
lay out our garden. Provide yourself with a 
line to stretch lengthwise of the rows, and 
insure getting them perfectly straight. Never 
plant ''by guess.'' Of course vegetables grown 
in crooked, straggling rows will be just as satis- 
factory in quality as those grown in straight 
ones, but they never look as w^ell while grow- 
ing, and the true gardener will take quite as 
much pride in the appearance of his garden 
as he does in what he grows in it. 

Set a stake firmly at each end of the row, 
draw your line tautly, and mark out the row 
by it. Then go over each row marked out 
with the cultivator, or, if you do not have one 

46 



Planting the Garden 



of these implements, an iron rake, and work 
the soil over and over until it is as fine as it 
can possibly be made. The importance of 
this may not be understood by the amateur 
gardener, but a little consideration of the 
matter will make the reason clear to him. 
Small seeds will not germinate readily, or surely, 
in coarse soil, nor will the tender, delicate 
roots of seedlings get the support they need 
from such a soil. This being the case, it is 
always advisable to pulverize that part of the 
row in which seed is to be sown to the last 
degree of fineness. There is no danger of over- 
doing this part of the work. Potatoes, com, 
beans, peas, and vegetables of that kind will 
not require so fine a soil as those having small 
seeds, but care should be taken to have all 
soil free from lumps, no matter what kind of 
seed you plant in it. 

Until of late years, seed-sowing was a sort 
of hit-or-miss performance. You might hit it 
exactly right, and you might miss it altogether. 
The method generally employed was to make 
furrows in the ground by drawing a stick or 
the hoe-handle along it, scatter the seed in 
them, from the fingers, and cover with loose 

47 



The Home Garden 



soil thrown out from the furrow. In some 
places the seed would be too thick, in others 
too thin, and the covering would vary all the 
way from almost nothing to an inch or more. 
The consequence would be that some seed 
would come up, and some would fail to do so. 
Happily the seed-sower of today has done 
away with this uncertain method of planting. 
This most useful implement can be so adjusted 
that it will sow seed of any size, sow it as 
thickly or as thinly as desired, or plant it in 
hills, and cover everything evenly, and all is 
done with going over the ground once. Thus 
the work of putting in seed is not only greatly 
simplified, but it is done much better than 
where the old method is followed, and done in a 
fraction of the time. Full directions for operating 
the garden seed-sower accompany each machine, 
and will be readily understood by the amateur. 

If seed must be sown by hand, go about the 
work carefully. For fine seed, do not make 
the furrows more than an eighth of an inch in 
depth. Cover very lightly. A better plan, in 
my way of thinking, is to simply scatter the 
seed on the ground, and press it down with a 
smooth board. This makes the soil sufficiently 

48 



Planting the Garden ^ 

compact to retain moisture enough about the 
seed to insure germination. The pressure of 
the board imbeds it in the soil, and no cover- 
ing will be needed. 

In proportion as seed increases in size, use 
more soil for covering. Most seedsmen now- 
adays print quite full cultural directions on the 
package. These should be carefully read and 
followed. You will also find general directions 
for planting and after-care in the catalogues. 

Let me say something, right here, about the 
kind of seed to use. Always get the best in 
the market. But how^ can we tell which is the 
best, may be asked. To which I answer: by 
always buying of dealers of established reputa- 
tion, — ^men who have dealt so fairly and so 
honorably with their customers that they hold 
them year after year, and, in some instances, 
to my personal knowledge, generation after 
generation. I buy all the seed I use of a firm 
from which my grandfather bought his. Of 
course the original members of the firm have 
gone, but the same honorable methods which 
characterized its beginning have been continued 
to the present time, and we know that what- 
ever this firm sells can be relied on as absolutely 

4 49 



The Home Garden 



true to what is claimed for it. Of course there 
are many new firms which no doubt deal quite 
as honorably, but w^e do not know this, there- 
fore we keep on patronizing the old one. It is 
safe to patronize any of the long-established 
seed houses, because the fact of their long con- 
tinuance in the business argues that they give 
entire satisfaction to their customers. Their 
seeds may cost more than those offered by 
new firms who are bidding for patronage, but 
it pays to put a little more money into them 
and be sure of what you are getting. You 
cannot only depend on getting good quality, 
but 3^ou will be sure to get the varieties you 
order. Some firms are so unscrupulous in 
their efforts to gain trade that they will send 
you something labelled to fit your order, but 
in many instances it proves untrue to name, 
and you are very much disappointed thereby. 
Investigate before ordering from a new firm, for 
much of the satisfaction of having a garden 
grows out of a selection of the best varieties. 
You cannot aft^ord to ctiltivate inferior sorts. 

Special directions will be given under the 
description of each vegetable adapted to the 
amateur's garden. 

50 



V. 

GARDEN IMPLEMENTS 



Every person who becomes a gardener on a 
large or small scale should provide himself 
with the various implements which simpUfy 
and expedite the work to be done. In this age 
of machinery we cannot afford to do by hand 
that which can be done to better advantage by 
the use of tools which can be had for a reason- 
able price, and which do the work required of 
them rapidly and in a superior manner. 

One of the most important and necessary of 
all garden implements is the cultivator or wheel- 
hoe. This tool makes weeding easy, enables 
one to do it in the shortest possible time, does 
away with the use of the ordinar}^ hoe to a 
great extent, and has the merit of being equally 
useful in a large or small garden. In a half 
hour one can accomplish more with a cultiva- 
tor than he can all day by ordinary manual 
labor, and he has 'the satisfaction of knowing 
that while his work has been done expedi- 

51 



The Home Garden 



tiously, it has been done in a thoroughly satis- 
factory manner. There is no such thing as 
doing it sHghtingly when this implement is 
used. The ease of its operation adapts it 
admirably to the use of women and children, 
who can do just as good work with it as any 
man. It is so adjustable that it can be made 
to do its work in any manner required. In a 
minute it can be regulated to go deep into the 
soil, or simply scarify the surface. It can be 
adjusted to rows of any width, — in a word, it 
is a tool that can be made to do just what you 
want it to do, and is so simple in its construc- 
tion and management that anyone can operate 
it with perfect success. No gardener can afford 
to be without one. 

In purchasing a cultivator, I would advise 
getting the style having two wheels, as this 
enables one to cultivate both sides of a row at 
the same time. The single- wheel implement 
obliges one to go along the row twice in order 
to complete the ctiltivation of it. Both kinds 
are fitted with a small plow attachment, hoes, 
and wide and narrow teeth. These can be set 
at any desired angle, and in such a manner as 
to throw the soil from the row, or into it. There 

52 



Garden Implements 



are many kinds of these cultivators on the 
market, and of course I can specify no particu- 
lar kind or make, but, before purchasing, look 
about among the dealers and be sure to get a 
machine that is simple, practical, and positive 
in its operation, and by all means buy one that 
is capable of a wide range of work. A good 
cultivator will pay for itself in a single season, 
and will last indefinitely if properly cared for. 
It should be cleaned every time it is used, and 
kept under shelter when not in use. Any tool 
that is allowed to stand with soil adhering to 
it, or exposed to the weather, will soon become 
rusty, and then it will clog easily and work 
hard until use scours it clean. House your 
garden tools w^hen they are not in use, 
especially in winter, and they will last three 
times as long as those which are neglected in 
this respect. 

Another useful implement in the garden is 
the seed drill. This machine enables you to 
drop the seed just where it is wanted, four, 
six, eight, or twelve inches apart, or in a con- 
tinuous row. This is operated after the fashion 
of the cultivator, being similar in construction. 
There is a hand-seeder on the market which the 

53 



The Home Garden 



owner of a small garden will find admirably 
adapted to his needs. It sows cabbage, carrot, 
celery, lettuce, radish, and all such seeds with 
perfect regtilarity, and does the work ten times 
as rapidly as it can be done by hand, and far 
more evenly. The quantity to be sown can be 
regulated, also the depth. It will sow a packet 
of seed, or a larger quantity, as desired. It is 
simple, easily understood, and cannot get out 
of order. While not absolutely necessary, it is 
a most desirable thing for any garden, and I 
would urge the use of it. 

Every gardener ought to own a spade. The 
kind to get is one having a rather narrow blade, 
which should be thin, with a good cutting edge. 
A heavy, clumsy spade is out of place in the 
garden, and a ''cheap'* spade, — cheap in qual- 
ity as well as in manufacture, — is dear at any 
price. Keep the edge of the spade well filed 
and you will always be able to do good work 
easily, but let it get dull and you will find it a 
tiresome tool with which to work. 

A long handled shovel will come in play 
almost every day. The shovel with a broad, 
square blade, turned up somewhat at the sides, 
is a very useful implement in the garden. 

54 



Garden Implements 



There should be a hoe in every garden. 
There is a hoe called the Warren, — probably 
so named because of its manufacturer, — which 
has a V-shaped blade, with the handle inserted 
in the centre. This gives a wide blade to use 
as desired, with a point at the other extremity. 
With this point it is possible to pick weeds 
away from vegetable seedlings almost as surely 
and safely as can be done with the fingers, 
and far more easily. This cannot be done 
with the ordinary wide-bladed hoe which has 
to be used with great caution in working among 
the weeds in the garden, and even then one is 
likely to cut off many of the seedlings with the 
weeds. With the V-shaped hoe, all can be 
done that is possible with the ordinary hoe, 
and it has a much wider range of usefulness 
than that tool. So useful is this style that I 
wonder why it is not universally employed. 

There should also be an iron-toothed rake 
in every garden. Don't get the very cheap 
kind. Get one that has good material in it. 
See that its teeth are regular in length, and 
that that part facing the user has a slanting 
rather than a fiat surface. A wooden-toothed 
rake is little better than nothing. One needs 

55 



The Home Garden 



something heavy enough to break clods apart 
when applied with force. 

Every gardener should be the owner of a 
weeding-hook. There are several styles on the 
market, many of them being so much alike in 
shape and method of operation that they are 
practically the same thing, though given dif- 
ferent names. Nearly all are provided with 
metal fingers which penetrate the earth and 
uproot weeds very rapidly, with very little 
exertion on the part of the operator. With a 
little practice this can be done without disturb- 
ing the plants one is weeding among. The 
teeth or fingers of these weeders do double 
duty, as, in addition to pulling up the weeds, 
they stir the soil to the depth of an inch or 
two, thus helping to make it light and porous 
and making the use of the hoe unnecessary for 
this purpose. These hooks do away almost 
entirely with the unpleasant work of pulling 
weeds by hand, and enable one to do more in 
ten minutes than could be done in an hour 
with the fingers. Hand-weeding is slow, dis- 
agreeable work, and has done more to make 
gardening unpopular than all else combined. 
Another style of weeder has a curving blade 

56 



Garden Implements 



with a sharp cutting edge. This shaves off the 
weeds instead of pulling them up. It will do 
very effective work, but is not as desirable, all 
things considered, as the hook. 

There should be a wheelbarrow or hand-cart 
in every garden. Perhaps, for general use, the 
cart will be best, but for such heavy work 
as hauling manure the wheelbarrow is most 
satisfactory. Invest in both, if you can 
afford to do so. 

All gardeners ought to provide themselves 
with a spraying apparatus, for, in these days 
of bugs, insects, and diseases of a fungoid na- 
ture, it is almost absolutely necessary to spray 
the plants if one would grow perfect crops. 

There is a spray-pump which is operated by 
hand from a bucket of water, which does most 
excellent work and is as useful for washing 
windows, buggies, and putting out incipient 
fires as it is in the garden. There is also a 
device called an auto-sprayer, which is self- 
operating. By pumping air into a tank partly 
full of water, and opening a valve, a continu- 
ous spray will be thrown off for some time. 
This machine does very good work and is a 
great labor-saver. 

57 



The Home Garden 



Of course the reader understands that it is 
not absolutely necessary to employ all these 
implements in order to have a good garden. 
In times when a spade and hoe constituted the 
entire garden outfit, just as good vegetables 
were grown as can be grown today, but it 
required a good deal more labor to bring about 
the desired result. The fact that the use of 
labor-saving implements enables one to accom- 
plish so much more in a short time, do it with 
greater ease, and do it just as well if not better, 
is the strong argument in their favor. And, 
too, most men, and especially boys, like to use 
machinery. Nine boys, I venture to say, can 
be made to take an interest in the garden 
where the implements I have mentioned are 
used, where one could be induced to work in 
it with simply a hoe and spade. Boys, like 
men, have a horror of pulling weeds, and the 
writer of this cannot say that he blames them 
for it, for he can easily remember the time 
when he would rather take a whipping than 
weed the garden for an hour. He very much 
doubts if he would have a garden now if ail 
the work in it had to be done in the slow, hard, 
old-fashioned way. But since he has found 

38 



Garden Implements 



out that by the use of the various implements 
calculated to make garden-work easy and 
expeditious as much can be done in an hour 
as could formerly be done in a day, and this 
without breaking his back by bending over 
beds and gripping weeds until his fingers are 
sore and stiff, he has come to look upon garden- 
ing operations as a recreation rather than 
something to be dreaded. It is not the part of 
wisdom to expend one's brawn and muscle on 
what a machine can be made to do, and the 
wise gardener, be he amateur or professional, 
will see that his garden is stocked with all 
kinds of labor-saving implements. 



VI. 

WEEDING AND TRANSPLANTING 



Very little can be done in the way of weed- 
ing until the seedling vegetables are of a size 
that will make it easy for the amateur to tell 
which is which" readily. As soon as this 
can be done, weeding should begin. If this 
part of garden-work is done thoroughly at the 
start, it will be comparatively easy to keep 
the weeds under during the remainder of the 
season. As they are wonderfully aggressive 
and extremely rapid in development, a little 
neglect at the time when they should receive 
careful attention will enable them to get a 
start that will be greatly to the detriment 
of the vegetable plants among which they 
grow, and make the work of cleaning out 
the beds not only difficult but dangerous, 
for their roots will have become so inter- 
woven with those of the other plants that it 
will be almost impossible to pull up one 
without uprooting the other. This is why 

60 



Weeding and Transplanting 



weed-pulling ought to begin as early in the 
season as possible. 

Here is where the hand-weeder comes into 
play. By inserting its claws or fingers into 
the soil close to the seedling vegetables, and 
drawing it towards you or away from the 
plants, it is an easy matter to dispose of the 
weeds without disturbing the other plants in the 
least. Of course those weeds growing in the 
row and among the vegetables will have to be 
pulled out by hand, but this can be done very 
rapidly and easily after the rest of the weeds 
are cleared away. After the weeder has been 
used on each side of the row, it may be neces- 
sary to use the hoe and draw back the dis- 
placed soil. It is always a good plan to keep 
the earth well up about the base of the plants. 

In weeding, make it a point, always, to 
gather up all the weeds that have been pulled 
and take them away from the garden. It is 
a good idea to have a comer somewhere re- 
served for a compost heap. Into this dump 
your weeds and all refuse of a vegetable nature 
that will decay readily, — ^leaves, turfy matter, 
and the like, — and allow decomposition to 
take place. Stir the heap frequently. Satu- 

6i 



The Home Garden 



rate it with the soapsuds of washing-day. At 
the end of the season mix some rich earth and 
sand with it, and next spring you will have 
some good soil to use in the hot-bed. If weeds 
are allowed to lie on the ground after they are 
pulled, many of them will take root and grow 
again, and it will be necessary to pull them a 
second time. Moreover a pile of puUed-up 
weeds is unsightly, so for that reason, if no 
other, dispose of them promptly. 

After having cleared away along the row, and 
for a space of about three inches each side of it, 
the garden cultivator can be brought into use. 
Use it so frequently and so thoroughly that 
not a weed can get a start. It is an easy matter 
to keep the garden clean, if, as has been ad- 
vised, you begin early in the season. But allow 
weeds to get ahead of you, as they surely will 
if you let them alone for a little while when 
they are in the early stages of development, 
and you will find that a good deal of hard 
work is required to bring them into subjuga- 
tion. The gardener who takes pride in his 
garden and who aims to grow vegetables to 
perfection recognizes the fact that there is a 
constant warfare between the two kinds of 

62 



Weeding and Transplanting 



plants, and that half-way measures will not 
count. If you do not give the weeds to under- 
stand that they will not be tolerated, they will 
most surely get the start of you in the long 
run, and every weed that is allowed to perfect 
seed will stock the ground with its progeny 
for the coming season. Get the garden clean 
at the beginning of the season and keep it so, 
and you will have done away with a good deal 
of the work that would have to be done next 
year, if you w^ere to compromise with weeds 
this year. Make it a rule to pull up or cut off 
every weed as soon as discovered. 

The use of the cultivator should be continued 
throughout the greater part of the season, or 
until the vegetables have begun to mature. 
It is a scientific fact that vegetable gro^rth is 
greatly benefited by a free admission of air to 
the roots. This is one of the good results of 
keeping the soil light and porous. Another 
and the miost important is that in dry weather a 
frequently stirred soil absorbs whatever moist- 
ure there is in the air. It acts like a sponge. 
But if the soil is allowed to crust over, under 
the mistaken idea that stirring would permit 
all the moisture in it to evaporate, crops will 

63 



The Home Garden 



suffer greatly from lack of dampness at their 
roots, in seasons of drought. The farmer who 
keeps the cultivator going almost constantly 
in his cornfield during a ''dry spell'' knows 
what he is about, and is acting along scientific 
lines. He is putting his soil in a condition that 
will enable it to extract and absorb all the 
moisture there is in the air, especially at night, 
and a field so cared for will stand drought a 
hundred per cent, better than one the crusted 
surface of w^hich repels all moisture. Therefore 
be sure to see that the soil is always kept 
light and porous. 

It often happens that considerable trans- 
planting has to be done. Seed may fail to 
germinate here and there in the row. Frost 
may nip some plants, and make it necessary 
to fill their places with new ones. Seedhngs 
from the hot-bed will have to be set out. 

Transplanting is easily and safely done if one 
goes at it in the right way. The first thing to 
do is to get the soil in readiness for the reception 
of the plants. This is done by w^orking it over 
and over until it is fine and mellow. Choose 
a cloudy day for the work, if possible. If the 
weather is bright and hot, do it after sundown. 

64 



Weeding and Transplanting" 



Make little holes in the ground deep enough to 
accommodate the roots wherever a plant is to 
be placed, using for this purpose a stick having 
a tapering point. 

Remove your seedlings from row, hot-bed, 
or cold-frame as carefully as possible. Aim to 
lift them without breaking their delicate roots. 
This can be done if you use a small trowel, or a 
piece of smooth, flat wood, made thin and 
sharp at the point. Never take hold of a plant 
and attempt to pull it out of the soil imtil the 
earth about it has been so loosened that there 
will be no resistance to overcome. The right 
way to lift a plant is by taking it up Vvith 
enough soil adhering to its roots to keep them 
from coming in contact with the air. If this 
cannot be done, lay them, as fast as lifted, on 
a layer of damp moss, or a cloth that is well 
saturated with water, and keep them shaded. 
Get them into the ground as soon as you can. 
If their roots are exposed to the air and become 
dry, your plants are ruined. If the weather 
is dry, apply water to the soil containing the 
plants to be lifted, before you begin the work 
of transplanting. Take the seedling carefully 
between the thumb and finger of the left hand, 
5 65 



The Home Garden 



drop its roots into the hole made to receive 
them, — ^but not letting go of the plant, — and 
press the soil lightly about it with the right 
hand. Then water well to settle the soil firmly 
about the roots and furnish moisture for the 
plant until it can send out new feeding roots. 

If the next day is hot and sunny, shade the 
newly set plants in some way. I make a cone 
of thick brown paper, six or eight inches across, 
insert a stick a foot in length in one side of it 
to hold the folds together, and put the other 
end of the stick into the ground close to the 
plant. This gives plenty of shade and allows 
the air to circulate freely about the plant. It 
is a good plan to cover the soil about the newly 
set plants with dry earth or road dust. This 
has a tendency to prevent the evaporation of 
moisture, and generally makes it unnecessary 
to water a second time, unless the season is an 
excessively dry one. 

If a young plant is handled carefully and 
managed properly, it will very soon establish 
itself in its new quarters, and quite often will 
go on growing as if nothing had happened to 
it. But bear in mind that much depends upon 
the careful work of the gardener. 

66 



VII. 

THE HOT-BED AND COLD-FRAME 



One of the first things to be done in spring 
in the line of gardening operations is the mak- 
ing of a hot-bed in which to grow plants for 
transplanting to the garden as soon as the 
weather will permit. While I would not advise 
anyone to depend on seedlings grown in the 
hot-bed for a general crop of any vegetable, I 
would advise starting a quantity of each kind 
from which an early crop is desired. Those 
who would like to grow vegetables for market 
will find it very important to get them under 
way early in the season, if they would reap 
the benefit of good prices. A well-constracted 
hot-bed, well cared for, will enable the gardener 
to have vegetables of certain kinds nearly a 
month earlier than he can hope to have if he 
depends on the garden for them. 

The location of the hot-bed is a matter of 
considerable importance. It should be on a soil 
that has good drainage, in a place well sheltered 

67 



The Home Garden 



from wind, and ftilly exposed to the sun. It 
should also be near the house, for convenience 
in giving it frequent attention. 

Let me say, right here, that the idea that 
almost anything in the shape of a pile of man- 
tire with a few boards about it and a covering 
of sash will answer all the purposes of a hot- 
bed, as well as a more carefully constructed 
arrangement would, is wrong. To do good 
work — and you want that or nothing — you 
must construct your hot-bed as thoroughly 
as you would your poultry-house, or your 
stable. A make-shift affair is not one in which 
you will be likely to grow good plants, but will 
be a constant source of annoyance to you, 
and will very likely be the cause of entire 
failure in the growing of seedlings for early 
planting out. Therefore build with a view to 
substantial results. 

Fresh manure from the horse stable, mixed 
with litter from bedding, is the material most 
generally made use of to furnish the heat 
required in the hot-bed. A quantity of this 
material is spread on the site selected for the 
\iot-bed, covering a space somewhat larger 
than the bed itself is expected to be. Spread 

68 



The Hot-Bed and Cold-Frame 



it in layers a few inches in depth, and tramp 
down each layer before another is added. 

When the pile is eighteen inches or two feet 
in depth, finish off by rounding it over in such 
a manner that it will shed rain, or cover it 
with oil-cloth. Leave it in this condition for 
a few days till fermentation sets in. This can 
be told by a warm moisture which will be seen 
rising from it. The mass should then be well 
forked over, shaking out the long straw, as 
this is done, and made into another compact 
heap, as at first. In two or three days it will 
give evidence of further heating. After this 
it is likely to be in a condition for final dispo- 
sition in the bed. As the manure is now thrown 
into shape, pack it down well, making it as 
uniformly compact as possible. It is quite 
important that the foundation should have 
considerable solidity, as you will soon discover 
that a heap of loose litter amounts to next to 
nothing for hot-bed purposes. There should 
be not less than two feet of this material. 

The frame, which the wise gardener will 
have constructed in advance of the season, 
should now be put in place, and fitted with 
sash. Bank up well outside the frame with 

69 



The Home Garden 



coarse manure, firmly packed down. Allow 
the sash to remain in place until strong heat is 
generated. When this begins to decrease and 
the thermometer does not register more than 
85° or 90°, cover the manure inside the frame 
with about six inches of the finest and mellow- 
est soil you can obtain. When this is done, 
the bed is ready for use. 

The making of a hot-bed frame is a simple 
piece of carpentering. At the back it should 
be about eighteen inches high. If it is six feet 
wide there should be a slope of six or eight 
inches towards the sun. This would make the 
front ten or twelve inches deep, according to 
the slope decided on. The slope is one of the 
important things to consider, for the sash 
should be of just the right angle to receive the 
fullest possible benefit from the sun. If too 
flat, or too abrupt, you fail to get the warmth 
desired. Therefore satisfy yourself as to the 
angle that would be most satisfactory, and 
make other matters subordinate to it. 

Bevel the back and front of the boards of 
the frame, that the sash may hug closely and 
fit snugly all around. Care should be taken, 
in putting the frame together, to have every 

70 



The Hot-Bed and Cold-Frame 

joint perfect, for poor joints and ill-fitting sash 
will allow heat to escape more rapidly than it 
is generated, thus making the hot-bed a failure. 

If more than one sash is used to each frame 
or section, a stout piece of wood should rtm 
from front to back for the pieces of sash to 
rest on, where they meet. If large pieces of 
sash are used, they will be fotmd quite heavy, 
and the frame and its cross-strips should be 
substantially made, or there may be a collapse 
at a time when such a happening would be 
disastrous in the extreme. It pays to do good 
work, while you are about it. A good hot-bed 
frame will do duty for several seasons, if well 
constructed and properly cared for after it is 
emptied of its seedlings. 

It often happens that we have severe weather 
after we get the hot-bed in operation. In such 
cases we must cover the sash with something 
that will prevent frost from forming on the 
glass and radiating cold down upon the deli- 
cate young plants. Strips of matting, old carpet, 
or blankets, will answer as well as anything. 

If the weather is bright and warm, it \\dll 
be necessary to admit a little air to hot-bed 
seedlings during the middle of the day; but 



The Home Garden 



do not lift the sash very much, and be sure 
that no cold wind can blow in upon the tender 
plants. To facilitate this part of the w^ork, it is 
a good plan to have the sash hung with hinges, 
at the back of the frame. If this is done, they 
can be raised or lowered without slipping out of 
place, as they will be quite Hkely to do if simply 
placed over the frame without fastening. 

In sowing seed in the hot-bed, cover lightly 
with soil and press the latter down enough to 
make it somewhat firm, but do not pack it 
solidly. Water can be applied, as needed, 
with a watering-pot having a spray nozzle. 
Never use a stream when watering plants in 
the hot-bed, as that will wash the soil away 
from the roots of the plants. If the glass be- 
comes covered with moisture, after watering or 
from evaporation at any time during the day, lift 
the sash a little to allow the surplus moisture to 
pass off, and clear the glass so that the rays of the 
sun will be enabled to get to the plants freely. 

A cold-frame is almost as important as a 
hot-bed. The two ought always to go together. 
It is simply a frame of boards constructed like 
that of the hot-bed, and set over a quantity 
of rich soil into which the seedlings from 

72. 



The Hot-Bed and Cold-Frame 



the hot-bed are transplanted when they have 
attained some size. This frame should also be 
fitted with a covering of sash. This should be 
lifted on all pleasant days, to give the plants 
inside the benefit of fresh air, and thus harden 
them for the time when they must go into the 
grotmd outside. At night and on all cold days 
the sash must be closed to retain the necessary 
degree of warmth. A little chilly weather will 
often injure the plants quite as much as a touch 
of frost would. 

In stmny weather be sure to open the cold- 
frame before the heat of the sun, by concen- 
tration on the glass becomes too intense for 
the yoimg plants. The admission of fresh air 
will cotmteract all danger from this source. 

The temperature in the cold-frame ought 
to range between 60° and 65° if one would 
grow strong and healthy plants, and of course 
one wants to grow nothing else. 

It will readily be understood from what has 
been said that both hot-bed and cold-frame 
will require considerable attention. They can- 
not be expected to take care of themselves 
after being built. They must be regulated 
according to the weather. Air must be ad- 

73 



The Home Garden 



mitted whenever it is possible to do so without 
injury to the plants, and cold draughts must be 
avoided as one would avoid the plague. It 
will be necessary to consult the thermometer 
a good many times a day. That is what must 
be depended on more than anything else in 
the management of hot-bed and cold-frame. 

In the north the first of March is qmte early 
enough to start a hot-bed for the growing of 
very early vegetables, and a month later for 
plants intended for general garden use. 

It is not advisable to have plants remain in 
either hot-bed or cold-frame so long that they 
become weakened by too long-continued heat. 
Injury of this kind can only be prevented by 
the proper admission of fresh air, and the regula- 
tion of the temperature as already advised. I 
make mention of this again because it is some- 
thing that no gardener can afford to ignore, and 
I desire to fully impress the fact upon his mind. 

Do not take the trouble to start any of the 
ordinary vegetables, which mature during the 
latter part of summer in the garden, in the 
hot-bed. They will come ahead rapidly enough 
if planted in the open ground, where they will 
be much easier to care for. 

74 



VIIL 

INSECTICIDES AND FUNGICIDES 



The gardener hardly expects, nowadays, to 
mature a crop of vegetables or small fruits 
without having to fight insects and diseases of 
a fungoid character. So prevalent has the 
practice become that he prepares for it at the 
beginning of the season. Knowing that in all 
probability insects will come and that fungus 
will appear sooner or later, it behooves him to 
act on the offensive, or, in other words, to get 
the start of plant-enemies, for it is easier to 
keep them away than it is to get rid of them 
after they have taken possession of one's 
plants. Don't wait for them to put in an 
appearance. Take measures to prevent their 
doing so by the occasional use of reliable insec- 
ticides and fungicides about the time they may 
be expected to arrive. 

We have many formulas for the preparation 
of these applications, some of them so elaborate 
that not one person out of twenty-five would 

75 



The Home Garden 



ever think of making them up. The very look 
of the recipe is so formidable that the average 
gardener thinks he will take his chances with 
the insects rather than be to the trouble of 
attempting work that seems fitted only to the 
chemist. I have satisfied myself, from some 
years of personal experience, that these elabo- 
rate preparations are really no more effective 
than the simpler ones. I shall therefore give 
the formulae of a few standard preparations for 
fighting plant foes, believing that the intelligent 
use of these will be quite sufficient to meet the 
necessities of most cases. 

SOAP INFUSION, OR KEROSENE EMULSION 

This insecticide kills by contact, doing most 

excellent work among insects that sap the 

vitality of a plant by sucking its juices. It 

can be used with admirable results about the 

roots of plants to destroy larvae in the soil and 

the lice which sometimes do most destructive 

work underground. While intended, primarily, 

for the destruction of sucking insects, it is very 

effective among leaf -eating sorts. 

Kerosene i gallon 

Ivory soap J pound 

Soft water i gallon 

76 



Insecticides and Fungicides 



Shave the soap and put it into the water as 
soon as the latter comes to a brisk boil. When 
wholly dissolved, remove from the fire and add 
the kerosene. Chum the mixture with force- 
pump or syringe, until a creamy emulsion is 
secured. If perfect union takes place you will 
have a jelly-like substance which will readily 
emulsify with water when the latter is added. 
Much depends upon the force used in churning 
the mixture. It must be agitated thoroughly, 
rapidly, and until there is a complete union of 
the several ingredients. 

For scale, use one part of this emulsion to 
nine parts water; for soft insects, like plant 
lice, one part emulsion to twenty parts ' w^ater ; 
for other insects, one part emulsion to fifteen 
parts of water. 

Apply with a sprayer, taking pains to have 
the mixture reach all parts of the plants. If 
you are fighting an enemy that hides on the 
under side of the foliage, it is well to have some 
one bend the plant over while you apply the 
insecticide, as success depends to a great 
extent on the thoroughness with which the 
preparation is used. 



77 



The Home Garden 



BORDEAUX inXTURE 

The following is the official formula for the 
preparation of this standard fungicide, as sent 
out by the United States Department of 
Agriculture : 

In a barrel that will hold forty-five gallons, 
dissolve six pounds of copper sulphate, using 
eight or ten gallons of water, or as much as 
may be necessary for the purpose. Slake four 
pounds of fresh lime in a tub by pouring water 
over it until disintegrated. Then add enough 
water to make it about the consistency of thick 
cream. Stretch a coarse gunny sack over the 
head of the barrel containing the copper sul- 
phate, and strain the lime mixture through it. 
Then fill the barrel with water. Stir thor- 
oughly, and the preparation is ready for use. 

Because the quantity seems large, the idea 
miay prevail that the cost must be considerable. 
Such is not the case, however. The cost per 
gallon of the mixture will not exceed one cent, 
as copper sulphate can be bought for seven 
cents a pound, and lime is about thirty cents a 
bushel, which will make your four pounds 
cost less than five cents. 

In all cases it is desirable to use powdered 
78 



Insecticides and Fungicides 

copper sulphate, as it dissolves much more 
readily than that in the lump. It is of the 
utmost importance that perfectly fresh lime 
should be used. Air-slacked lime is worthless. 

The above directions can be depended on as 
absolutely reliable, for the Department of Agri- 
culture recomimends nothing that has not been 
thoroughly tested. 

If Paris green is added to this mixture we 
have a combined insecticide and fungicide, 
which can be relied on to do most excellent 
work. As insects and fungi usually exist 
together to a considerable extent, it is well to 
make use of the combination for general appli- 
cations. 

When used on peaches, plums, and other 
stone fruit, two ounces of Paris green to forty- 
five gallons of the mixture, or in that propor- 
tion, will be sufficient. 

For other fruits, berries, and the like, four 
ounces of Paris green to the same quantity of 
mixture may be used, or in that proportion. 

The writer is well aware that many persons 
hesitate about using Paris green on vegetables 
and fruits. The following from Farmers' Bul- 
letin No. 7, United States Department of Agri- 

79 



The Home Garden 



culture, shows how harmless the article is when 
used properly: 

Paris green and London purple have been 
used extensively in this country, for many 
years, for insecticidal purposes, and not one 
instance of fatal poisoning from their use has 
been subtantiated. The only danger lies in 
keeping them about, in bulk. Keep them 
where they belong, — and that is out of the 
way of children and meddlesome persons, — 
and there is nothing to fear/' 

In the department of this book in which the 
various kinds of vegetables are treated indi- 
vidually, I shall indicate such special applica- 
tions as may be necessary to successfully 
combat the peculiar enemies of the plant imder 
consideration. 



IX. 

WHAT TO GROW 



In this and the following chapters I propose 
to make mention of some of the standard varie- 
ties of the various kinds of vegetables adapted 
to amateur culture, and to give, in connection 
with the descriptions of them, such suggestions 
as may seem necessary to enable one to grow 
them well. 

If the reader consults the catalogues of the 
seedsmen in making his selection of seeds for 
his garden, he will find many kinds described 
therein of which no mention will be made by 
me. Many of these are good. Some of them 
may possibly be superior to those I shall refer 
to, but most of the kinds sent out each year 
as ''desirable new^ sorts,'' ''great improve- 
ments on old varieties," and the Hke, prove 
on trial, to be inferior. They may have some 
points of merit, but these are not sufficient to 
overcome the lack of general merit w^hich a new 
kind must have in order to be classed amono- 
6 8i 



The Home Garden 



the standard varieties. Most of these novel- 
ties'' drop out of the catalogues after a little, 
and the seed-buying public comes to the con- 
clusion that it is wisdom to stand by the old, 
well-tried sorts which have become standard 
because of their many good qualities. While 
it is quite true that improvement is being 
made constantly among garden vegetables, it 
is quite as true that only a small percentage of 
those advertised as great improvements on 
the original" are worth growing. Here the 
old adage of ''prove all things and hold fast 
to that which is good'' is of very pertinent 
application. 

A consultation of the catalogues of all the 
prominent seedsmen of the country will show 
that among all the vegetables described therein 
there are certain varieties in general cultiva- 
tion, and these are the kinds for the amateur 
to make use of. They stand at the very head 
of the list because they are what they are — 
the representatives of their class upon which 
the public has set the seal of its approval after 
years of culture— and I believe it will be diffi- 
cult to improve on them. 



82 



What to Grow 



BEANS 

We have bush beans and pole beans. The 
former are of low, compact growth, and need 
no support, and on this account most amateur 
gardeners will be likely to choose them. But 
the limas or climbing sorts have so superior a 
flavor that the owner of even a small garden 
can hardly afford to be without a few hills of 
them. They have a rich, buttery quality which 
is seldom found among the bush beans. They 
are very productive, and will be found superior 
to any others in the concoction of succotash. 

Among the bush beans especial mention 
should be made of the following varieties: 

Refugee. Of compact growth, extremely 
prolific, pods Hght green, very solid and tender. 

Stringless Green Pod. A very early sort 
that remains tender and crisp a long time after 
maturity. Of fine flavor. 

Golden Wax. Pods long, thick, tender, fine 
flavored, and absolutely stringless. A most 
excellent variety. 

Among the limas. Leviathan may be placed 
at the head of the list, being a great bearer, 
rich in flavor, and remaining eatable through- 
out the season. Bush limas are also good. 

83 



The Home Garden 



General Cultural Directions. Plant in hills 
about a foot and a half apart. Do not plant 
until danger of frost is over, unless you arrange 
for their protection on cold nights. It is a 
common belief that the bean will grow in almost 
any soil, but the fact is we have no vegetable 
that appreciates good treatment more keenly. 
In a rich soil it wiJl make vigorous gro\si;h, 
yield bountifully, and have a flavor that is 
never found in crops produced from poor soil. 
Plant at intervals, for a succession. 

BEETS 

The beet is a general favorite, and it well 
deserves its popularity, for it has delicious 
flavor, is a most attractive looking vegetable 
when ready for the table, and can be cooked 
in so many ways that the housewife considers 
it one of the stand-bys.'' 

Among the very early sorts Electric is a 
general favorite, because of its fine-grained 
flesh and sugary flavor. 

Early Eclipse is of rapid growth, very super- 
ior in quality, and extremely rich in color. It 
ranks high in flavor with the housewife who 
takes pride in carrying out a decorative color 

84 



What to Grow 



scheme in which vegetables play an important 
part. 

Crimson Globe is unsurpassed for a second early 
and main crop. It does not attain to great size, 
which is a merit rather than a drawback, as large 
beets are as a general thing stringy, tough, and 
flavorless. It is of great tenderness in all stages 
of growth, never becoming tough like the old 
long-rooted sorts, which are not much grown 
nowadays except for feeding stock. 

Early Bassano has rose-colored flesh. It is 
sweet and well flavored, but lacks the richness 
of the dark-colored varieties. The housewife 
will find it useful in the decoration of the 
table, however. 

Blood Turnip is an excellent sort for a gen- 
eral crop and for winter use. It has fine-grained 
flesh, is rich in color and superior in flavor. 

General Cultural Directions. Sow in rows, 
about the middle of May. Give a rich, deeply- 
worked soil. Allow no weeds to grow among 
the plants. 

If sown thickly, the young plants can be 
thinned out early- in the season and used as 
greens. While young, the leaves are very 
tender and delicious. 

85 



The Home Garden 



CABBAGE 

For first crop of this vegetable, there is no 
variety superior to the old Early Wakefield, 
which has held its own against newer candi- 
dates for favor for the last twenty years or 
more. It cannot be excelled. 

For a second crop, the Early Summer con- 
tinues to hold the popular favor. It is a fiat- 
headed cabbage, of excellent flavor, very 
tender, and fine-grained. The very early 
cabbages are lacking in the good qualities of 
the later sorts, and are mainly valuable because 
they supply the craving for something in the 
vegetable line early in the season. But such 
varieties as Early Summer have all the merits 
of the later sorts, and will be found invaluable 
in every collection. 

Perhaps the very best late cabbage, and the 
ideal one for winter use, is the Late Drum- 
head. It is so compact that a small head will 
weigh several pounds, and, when cut apart, 
its leaves will be found so closely folded upon 
each other that they form a solid mass of tender 
crispness, juicy, and of superior quality, cook- 
ing without a suggestion of stringiness. As a 
keeper it is unexcelled. 

86 



What to Grow 



Another favorite sort is the old Marblehead 
Mammoth, still one of the best in the market. 
The chief objection to be urged against it is 
its great size. An ordinar}^ head could not 
be used in several days in the average family, 
and cabbage is a vegetable that soon parts 
with a good deal of its finest flavor after cut- 
ting. Therefore, for the ordinary family, a 
smaller kind will be found more satisfactory. 

The housewife who has an eye for the attrac- 
tions of the table will want a quantity of the 
purple cabbage to work up in salads and slaws. 
Its rich color makes it almost as attractive as 
flowers. 

Set cabbage about two feet apart in the row. 

Early cabbage can be started in the hot- 
bed, but for a later crop I would advise plant- 
ing the seed in the open ground. 

If the flea-beetle attacks your cabbage plants 
when small, dust them, while damp, with 
tobacco powder, wood ashes, or air-slacked 
lime. If the aphis comes, use the kerosene 
em.ulsion spoken of in the chapter on Insecti- 
cides and Fimgicides. For the worms which 
sometimes eat the leaves during the latter part 
of the season, this emulsion is one of the most 

87 



The Home Garden 



valuable remedies. If what is called cabbage 
rust — but which is really a fungus trouble — 
attacks the plants, use the Bordeaux mixture. 

General Culture Directions. For very early 
use, start in the hot-bed and transplant to 
cold-frame as soon as the plants have made 
a second set of leaves. Put into open ground 
as soon as danger from frost is over. The soil 
should be well manured and deeply worked. 
For late use sow seed in May. 

CARROTS 

This vegetable is not appreciated as it ought 
to be, because it does not appeal to the appetite 
at first eating, as many vegetables do. But 
after a little a liking for it develops, and one 
soon becomes fond of it. Carrot is especially 
useful in soups and other combinations of 
vegetables. 

A small space will grow enough to supply 
the requirements of a large family. To grow 
well, it should be given a deep, rich soil — one 
of sandy loam preferable — and receive good cul- 
tivation. This vegetable keeps well in winter, 
retaining its pecuHar flavor to perfection, and 
remaining crisp and fresh until late in spring. 

88 



What to Grow 



Probably the best early variety is Short 
Horn, fine-grained and rich in flavor. 

Danver's Orange is the best variety for 
winter use — sweet, crisp, and tender. 

CAULIFLOWER 

This plant, which is a member of the cabbage 
family, requires precisely the same care and 
culture advised for cabbage. 

For early use. Extra Early Dwarf Erfurt is 
as good a sort as any. 

It is hardly worth while to attempt growing 
a summer variety, as the plant almost always 
fails to head well in hot weather, but a late 
crop can be grown to advantage. If plants 
have not headed by the time the groimd 
freezes, take them up with a large quantity of 
soil adhering to their roots, pack them solidly 
into boxes, and put them in the cellar or cold- 
frame if the latter can be kept warm enough 
to permit growth. Much vrarmth is not needed, 
but frost should be kept out. The cellar is, all 
things considered, the safest place for them. 
Here they will form small heads of delicious 
tenderness during the winter. 



89 



The Home Garden 



CELERY 

The following abridgment from the direc- 
tions given by Professor Graves in his recent 
work on Celery Growing for Profit'' stmis up 
the culture of this popular plant in a few words 
and a practical way : 

In the latter part of Februar}^ fill a shallow 
box with clean, mellow loam. Press it down 
well before putting any seed into it. Apply 
water enough to make the soil evenly moist 
all through. Then make little rows in it, and 
sow the seed rather thickly. Draw the soil 
thrown up in making the rows over the seed, 
and press it down firmly. Cover the box with 
light paper or cloth, to keep the soil dark and 
moist, and set the box in a place having an 
even, moderate temperature. The seed will 
germinate in about ten days. Remove the 
covering as soon as the young plants appear. 
Never allow the soil to become dry, but be 
careful about using too much water, as undue 
moisture will cause the plants to damp off. 

When the young plants have made their 
second leaves, transplant them into other 
boxes or flats, setting them an inch apart in 
the row, and making the rows about two inches 

90 



What to Grow 



apart. From these boxes the seedlings can be 
put into the open ground any time after the 
middle of May. 

Seed may also be sown in the open ground 
early in the season. Let the soil be rich and 
worked over until it is very fine. Firm it down 
well before sowing the seed. For some reason, 
celery often fails to start w^ell in a loose soil. 
Sow the seed in rows a foot apart. Cover with 
about an inch of soil. Thin the plants out until 
they stand about an inch apart. Cut the tops 
back once or twice, to encourage a stocky 
growth. In June or July, transplant. Set in 
rows three feet apart. Let there be at least 
six inches between the plants. When this 
transplanting is done, it should be according 
to the trench system, which is setting the 
plants in trenches at least six inches in depth. 
Cut off the leaves, or rather, the upper half of 
them, and shorten the roots about one-third 
when transplanting. Water well. In about 
six weeks begin to earth up about the plants. 
Here is where great care is necessary. Gather 
the leaves together in the left hand, and with 
the right hand draw the soil in about them 
packing it so firmly that the leaves, when you 

91 



The Home Garden 



relax your hold on them, will not throw it out 
of place. Allow no soil to work itself in among 
the stalks, when you are ''earthing up.*' In a 
few days draw in more soil, and keep on doing 
this from time to time, until the plants are 
covered nearly to their tips. This part of the 
process is called blanching, and this it is which 
makes the plant crisp and tender, and takes 
away the strong taste which characterizes the 
plant when not so treated. 

There are self -blanching sorts, so called, 
offered by many of the leading firms of seeds- 
men, but I have never grown any that did not 
require a treatment similar to the above to 
make it satisfactory. 

Some growers blanch their crop by setting 
up wide boards on each side of the row in such 
a manner as to exclude all light from the plants, 
except at the very top. This plan answers 
very well, but it does not give the stalks that 
brittleness which the lover of good celery 
demands. 

White Plume is one of the earliest sorts. 
There is a Pink Plume, and a Golden Plume, 
very similar to White Plume except in color. 
These varieties are extremely ornamental, 

92 



What to Grow 



and the housewife will always be glad to have 

some of them grown in the family garden for 
decorative use on the family table. These sorts 
are not as good keepers as such varieties as 
Giant Pascal, which is one of our best winter 
varieties. 

Well-blanched celery can be kept through 
the greater part of winter if it is stored in a 
place where the temperature is low, and the 
atmosphere is dry enough not to bring on 
decay. The plants should be lifted and packed 
closely together, and their roots should be kept 
moist. In a low temperature they will not 
make growi;h, but simply ''hold their own.'' 
In a warm place decay is likely to set in early 
in the season, and in a short time the entire 
stock will be ruined. Therefore, keep the 
temperature down, if you would have your 
celery winter well. 



X. 

WHAT TO GROW {Continued) 



SWEET CORN 

This delicious vegetable should be grown in 
every garden large enough to give it room. Just 
gathered from the stalk, it has a delicacy of 
flavor which the corn obtained in the market 
never has, unless bought fresh from the grower. 

Sweet com does best in a soil of sandy loam, 
highly manured. Work it deeply, that the 
roots may have a chance to penetrate with 
ease to a considerable depth. 

Plant in hills three feet apart for the small- 
growing early sorts, and four feet apart for 
the tall, strong-growing kinds like StowelFs 
Evergreen. 

At the north, corn can be planted with 
safety about the middle of May, but not earlier. 
In cold, backward seasons, it may be well to 
defer planting until the twentieth of the month, 
or even later, as the seed often fails to germi- 
nate in a cold, wet soil. 

94 



What to Grow 



Begin to cultivate it as soon as the plant has 
made four or five leaves. Keep up this treat- 
ment until ears begin to form. One secret of 
success in the culture of this plant is in keeping 
the soil always light and open. Air must be 
admitted to its roots freely, and they must 
have a chance to spread without difficulty, as 
they could not in a soil not worked enough to 
make it friable and mellow. 

Plant for a succession of crops, at intervals 
of ten days or two weeks. By a wise selection 
of varieties, this delicious vegetable can be 
enjoyed for several weeks, or up to the coming 
of frosty weather. 

Probably the best very early variety, is 
Cory, sweet, tender, and productive. 

Early Minnesota is a general favorite be- 
cause of its many excellent qualities. 

Dreer's First of All is another early sort 
that deserves especial mention for its quick 
development and exceedingly delicious flavor. 

A variety of recent introduction that prom- 
ises to become a standard is Stabler 's Early. 
This is considerably larger than other early 
kinds, and has a peculiarly rich, sweet flavor 
and is remarkably tender. 

95 



The Home Garden 



A standard late variety is Country Gentle- 
man. It is equal in quality to Sto well's Ever- 
green, but does not remain in condition for 
table use for so long a time as that variety 
does. Because of this peculiarity, Sto well's 
Evergreen is probably the most popular vari- 
ety of corn ever grown. For flavor, tenderness, 
and sugary sweetness it cannot be excelled, 
and when we add to these merits its long-keep- 
ing quality we have in it the ideal corn for 
table use. If one can grow but one variety, 
by all means let this be the one. 

Sto well's Evergreen is an excellent variety 
for drying. When dried by exposure to the 
sun, whose warmth seems to condense the 
sweetness rather than dissipate it, this com 
retains much of the delightful flavor which 
characterizes it when fresh, and will be found 
far superior to much canned corn. 

CUCUMBER 

This vegetable can be started in the hot- 
bed to good advantage. I would advise mak- 
ing little pots for it out of thick paper, about 
the size of the ordinary teacup. Fill with rich, 
light soil. Put four or five seeds in each pot. 

96 



What to Grow 



When the ground is warm, and not before, 
these pots can be set directly into the soil, 
where they will soon decay. In this way the 
tender roots of the plants will escape disturb- 
ance, a matter of considerable importance. 
When it is safe to plant them out — after all 
danger from frost is over — set in hills four feet 
apart each way. Be sure that the soil is very 
rich. An early and vigorous growth must be 
encouraged. 

Plant for a succession. 

If the cucumber beetle attacks the plants, 
sprinkle with land plaster, or fine road-dust, 
into which tobacco powder has been thoroughly 
mixed. 

Early White Spine is one of the best very 
early sorts. It has a delicious flavor, and is 
very tender and productive. 

For late use, and for pickling, Emerald 
deserves a place near the head of the list. This 
variety is exceedingly productive, its fruit is 
very attractive in appearance, being long, 
dark green, and perfectly smooth, and its 
quality is exceptionally fine because of solidity, 
tenderness, and superior flavor. 



7 



97 



The Home Garden 



LETTUCE 

One of the standbys of the garden. Very early 
crops are secured by sowing in the hot- bed where 
it speedily matures, but plants so grown lack 
the delicacy and flavor of garden-grown ones. 

To grow lettuce satisfactorily, the soil must 
be rich and quick. If it makes slow develop- 
ment, it will be tough and lacking in fine flavor. 

Seedlings can be transplanted from the hot- 
bed, if sowings can be made in the open ground. 
Sow at intervals of ten days or two weeks for 
a succession of crops. By a judicious selection 
of varieties and proper culture this vegetable 
can be enjoyed throughout the season. 

White Cos is excellent for an extra early 
sort. Big Boston is one of the best for a gen- 
eral crop, being crisp, sweet, and tender, with 
that peculiar buttery flavor which makes this 
vegetable so enjoyable when grown to perfec- 
tion. It retains its good quaHties throughout 
the season, and is, I think, the best all-around 
variety for use at the north. 

MELONS 

These grow best in a soil of light loam, made 
very rich. If possible, secure a location fully 

98 



What to Grow 



exposed to the sun. It should be well worked 
to the depth of a foot at least. 

Plant in hills f].ve feet apart, each way. Do 
not be in too great a hurry to get the seed into 
the ground, as the seedling plants are very ten- 
der and a slight frost — even a chill — often proves 
the death of them. About the middle of May is 
quite early enough to plant them at the north. 
Previous to planting it is well to mix a shovelful 
of good manure with the soil in each hill. Work 
it over until it becomes part of the original soil. 
When the plants are about a foot long, pinch 
off the tips to make them branch. See that they 
never suffer for water. If you can conveniently 
do so, apply liquid manure occasionally. 

A few plants for early fruiting can be started 
in the hot-bed in paper pots, as advised for 
cucumbers, but great care will have to be 
taken to prevent them from damping off. 
Give ventilation in pleasant weather by raising 
the sash slightly. This will allow the moisture 
in the air to pass off while admitting fresh air. 
Be very careful not to allow cold \^inds to 
strike the young plants. If the sun is strong 
enough to wilt them, cover the glass with 
cheesecloth during the middle of the day. 

99 



The Home Garden 



If the beetle attacks the plants treat as 
advised for cucumber. It is a good plan to 
prevent the beetle from getting at them by 
placing boxes covered with netting about the 
young plants, when first set out. 

It is an open question as to which kind of 
melon is most popular. Perhaps one enjoys 
as much popularity as the other. The rich, 
aromatic sweetness of the muskmelon appeals 
to one, while his neighbor declares the sugary, 
juicy, melting tenderness of the watermelon 
to be the perfection of all that is desirable in 
fruit. It is simply a question of taste — ^in the 
gastronomic sense of the term. Every garden 
ought to contain both kinds. 

Perhaps the most popular variety of musk- 
melon at present is Rocky Ford. This sort is 
of the netted type, medium in size, with a 
flavor unsurpassed in sweetness and rich qual- 
ity, its flesh firm and fine-grained, but with a 
delicious, melting tenderness which reminds 
one of a perfectly ripe peach. 

Defender is another superior variety. This 
has the same meritorious qualities of Rocky 
Ford in a great degree, but its flesh is a 
rich yellow while that of the other is a light 

100 




A THRIFTY MELON PATCH 
le secret lies in planting in deep, rich loam and insuring plenty of 
sunlight and moisture. 



What to Grow 



green. On this account it is more attractive 
for table use. 

Nutmeg was not so long ago our most popular 
variety of this class of the melon family. It de- 
serves cultivation today, because of its rich fla- 
vor and remarkable sweetness and the ease with 
which it is grown. It is also very productive. 

Among the watermelons, Mountain Sweet 
deserves prominent mention. It grows to 
large size, and is very solid as to flesh, with a 
most delicious flavor. It melts in one's mouth. 

Sweetheart is vigorous and productive, flesh 
bright red, crisp and sugary, and of that pecu- 
liar melting quality which makes this class of 
melon so popular. 

Ice Cream is a well-known sort whose merits 
have made it a standard variety. Its flesh is 
very firm, juicy, and sweet. 

Of the yellow-hearted sorts, Yellow Ice 
Cream is the only one I care to recommend. 
Most other yellow-meated kinds are coarse 
and lacking in flavor. 

MUSHROOMS 

It is generally supposed by the amateur 
gardener that there is some knack'* about 

lOI 



The Home Garden 



mushroom-growing that only the skilful and 
experienced gardener can attain. In this he is 
mistaken. Anyone can grow this delicious 
vegetable in shed or cellar, provided the tem- 
perature can be kept at from 55° to 65°. 

Horse-manure is used in making the beds 
for the reception of spawn. Work it over at 
intervals of three or four days, until it is evenly 
mixed. Never use it just as it comes from the 
stable. Get the straw from bedding out of it as 
well as you can, leaving nothing but the clear 
manure. Never allow it to get wet. This is 
important. 

Make the bed about ten inches deep. Pack 
the manure down well. Insert a thermometer 
and when it registers 80° or 90°, put in the 
spawn. Break the spawn into pieces about 
the size of a silver quarter, and put a piece in 
holes four or five inches deep, and about ten 
inches apart. Cover evenly, and wait for 
about ten days, then examine. If the spawn 
was good and fresh, and has done its work 
properly by sending out its thread-like fila- 
ments through the soil in all directions, cover 
the bed with fresh earth of a loamy nature 
and press it down well. Put on this soil to 

102 



What to Grow 



about the depth of two inches. Keep the 
temperature as even as possible. Avoid fre- 
quent and abrupt changes from heat to cold. 

Follow these directions carefully, and it 
will not be long before you have a bountiful 
crop of this most enjoyable vegetable. 

Great care should be taken in getting the best 
spawn possible. Buy only of reliable dealers. 

ONION 

This vegetable grows in almost any soil 
that is well worked and thoroughly manured. 
Sow as soon as the weather seems to be settled. 
Sow in rows, and thin out, if too thick. At 
least three inches should be allowed between 
the plants. Cultivate frequently, and keep 
down all weeds if you want a good crop. 

There are just three varieties I would advise 
for general culture — ^Weathersfield Red, Yel- 
low Danvers, and Silverskin. 

The two first-named sorts are excellent 
keepers. The Silverskin is best for late summer 
and fall use. It has a white, tender, juicy 
flesh, very mild in flavor, therefore better 
liked by most persons than the stronger kinds. 
For pickling purposes, this variety is exten- 

103 



The Home Garden 



sively grown by sowing it thickly, and gather- 
ing it when about half grown. 

PARSLEY 

This vegetable is much used in seasoning 
soups, and for garnishing roasts, fish, and 
other meat dishes. Sow in May, in rows a foot 
apart. Cover the seed with about half an inch 
of soil. Being rather slow to germinate, it is a 
good plan to soak the seed in warm water for a 
few hours before sowing it. 

Parsley can easily be carried over winter, 
in pots, in the window-garden. For this pur- 
pose, make a late sowing, and set half a dozen 
seedlings in a seven or eight inch pot. The 
housewife w^ho takes pride in the attractive 
appearance of the table will highly appreciate 
it in winter, when it is difficult to find material 
for the garnishing of roasts and fish courses on 
sale. A pot of parsley is more attractive than 
many of the plants used for window decoration, 
therefore it may be made to do double duty. 

Summer Green is a strong grower, admirably 
adapted to summer use. Its foliage is large, 
finely curled, and of a rich green color which 
makes it very attractive. 

104 



What to Grow 



Curled Perpetual has very tender, crisp 
leaves, much crimped and curled. This is the 
best variety for winter use. 

PARSNIP 

This is another of the vegetables which 
would be more highly prized if persons would 
only allow themselves to become familiar 
with its good qualities. As it is, this vegetable 
is quite extensively grown and finds a ready 
sale in the city markets, but many home gar- 
dens are without it. 

The parsnip does well in almost any soil, if 
it has been spaded up to the depth of a foot 
and a half. Unlike most vegetables, it does 
not develop its finest flavor in a soil of extreme 
richness. It requires one of moderate richness 
only, and is best when only of medium size. 
Plants forced by rich soil to large and rapid 
growth are lacking in sweetness, and soon 
become tough and stringy. 

Sow the seed in the open ground as early in 
the spring as it can be worked well. Sow in 
rows, and thin out to about four inches apart. 

This plant is improved by our fall frosts. 
Late in the season — ^just before the ground is 

105 



The Home Garden 



likely to freeze and stay frozen — dig the roots, 
and let them lie exposed to sunshine for two 
or three days before you store them away 
Then pack in boxes of dry sand, and put in a 
cool place. 

The best variety is the Hollow Crown. 

PEAS 

If the writer of the book could have but one 
vegetable, the pea would be his choice. It is 
so rich in flavor, so easily grown, so prolific, 
and so adapted to all gardens, that it deserves 
a place at the head of the list of desirable 
plants for garden culture. 

Sow as early in the season as the grotmd can 
be worked. It is a plant that likes to make a 
good growth of roots before hot weather comes. 
Sow in rows, and sow deeply. It is a good 
plan to make trenches six inches deep, and sow 
the seed in them, covering, at first, with about 
an inch of soil. As the plants reach up, draw 
in more soil about them, and continue to do 
this until all the soil thrown out from the trench 
has been returned to it. In this way, the 
plants get their roots down deep in the soil 
where it will be moist in hot weather. 

io6 



What to Grow 



Keep the plants well cultivated. 

The tall-growing sorts must have some kind 
of support. They take more kindly to brush 
than anything else, but as this is not always 
obtainable, a good substitute can be made of 
coarse-meshed wire netting. At first it may 
be necessary to train the young plants out and 
in among the meshes, to encourage them to 
take hold, but after a little they will develop 
tendrils which will twine themselves about 
the wires, and no further training will be 
necessary. 

First among the very early peas I would 
place Nott's Excelsior. It is very productive, 
and has a flavor much superior to the ordinary 
early pea. 

Gradus, or Prosperity, is also very produc- 
tive, and of excellent quality. 

Thomas Laxton is a comparatively new 
sort whose merits we are just becoming familiar 
with. It is a wrinkled pea, and, like all the 
wrinkled varieties, it has a sweetness not foimd 
among the smooth kinds. 

For a medium variety, Advancer is as good 
as any kind I have any knowledge of. It is pro- 
lific, has large pods, and its flavor is delicious. 

107 



The Home Garden 



For late peas, I would recommend but two 
varieties, Telephone and Champion of England. 
I would confine my choice to these two sorts 
simply becuase they combine all the good 
qualities of the other varieties described in the 
catalogues in a wonderful degree. They have 
that rich, sugary, delicious flavor which makes 
this vegetable so universal a favorite; they are 
exceedingly productive, and they are adapted 
to almost all localities. If there are any better 
sorts I do not know what they are. 

OEHA 

This vegetable is sometimes called gumbo. 
Its green seed pods, when not too long and old, 
make an excellent dish, cooked alone or with 
tomatoes. They are also useful for soup founda- 
tions. Sow the seed in rows two and a half 
feet apart and allow several inches between 
the plants. Cultivate thoroughly between the 
rows and keep cutting off the pods as they reach 
edible size. The growth of new pods is thus 
stimulated. 



XL 

WHAT TO GROW {Continued) 



PEPPER 

This vegetable is considered by the house- 
wife as one of the most important of all garden 
vegetables, because of its usefulness in season- 
ing soups and salads, and as a basis for pickles, 
chow-chow, piccalilli, and various other appe- 
tizing condiments which the good cook takes 
delight in making. 

The larger sorts are mainly used for pick- 
ling, because of their thicker flesh and milder 
flavor. The smaller kinds are favorites for 
flavoring soups and sauces. 

Ruby Giant is a large-growing sort much 
used in making mangoes and for pickling. 

Long Red Cayenne has a very pungent 
flavor, and is the standard variety used in 
soups and sauces. 

Other desirable sorts are Golden Dawn, for 
mango-making and chow-chow, and Sweet 
Spanish, for use in salads. 

109 



The Home Garden 



This plant can be started in the hot-bed, 
or seed can be sown in the open ground in 
May. Set the plants about eighteen inches 
apart, in rich, light soil. 

POTATO 

The soil best suited for the production of a 
potato of the best quality is one of rich, light, 
sandy loam, although the vegetable can be 
grown very satisfactorily in almost any soil. 
But on land heavy with clay, and not well 
drained, it never attains the size, flavor, and 
general excellence which characterizes it when 
grown in a soil better suited to its requirements. 
In such a soil it is often rough and scabby, 
therefore not very attractive to the eye, though 
it may be fairly well flavored and mealy when 
cooked. 

It pays to make a special effort to give the 
potato a soil to its liking, if one cares to grow 
it to perfection. By mixing sand, old mortar, 
muck, — anything that has a tendency to 
lighten and make porous, — with a heavy soil, 
much can be done to improve the productive- 
ness and quality of this vegetable. Good culti- 
vation is also an important factor in the case. 

no 



What to Grow 



Being a gross feeder, manure should be used 
liberally. If barnyard fertilizer is used, it 
should be old and thoroughly rotted, and well 
mixed with the soil. Never dump it into the 
hill, as I have seen some persons use it, without 
pulverizing, and without an effort to work it 
into the soil so perfectly and evenly that no 
clear manure can come in contact with the 
tubers. Fresh manure should never be used. 

The best commercial fertilizers for the potato 
are plaster, lime, superphospate of lime, and 
bone meal. The dealer of whom one purchases 
his fertilizers should be consulted as to the 
quantity to be used on the space devoted to 
this vegetable, and his advice should be strictly 
followed. No general directions as to the 
amount to be used can be given because fertil- 
izers vary in strength. 

Plant as early in spring as the ground can 
be worked to advantage, in rows three feet 
apart, and a foot apart in the row. Cover 
with about three inches of soil. Cultivate 
thoroughly, drawing the soil about the plants 
as they increase^ in size. 

The Colorado beetle will be pretty sure to 
attack the plants early in the season. Often 



The Home Garden 



it will be found on sprouts just peering through 
the soil, therefore one must be on the watch 
for this destructive enemy from the very begin- 
ning. If allowed to do its deadly work without 
prompt interference, the tender young plants 
will soon be ruined. Paris green is the standard 
remedy. A tablespoonful to a pailful of water 
is about the right proportion to use. Apply it 
with a sprayer. See that it gets to all parts 
of the plant. 

It is a good plan to go among the vines dur- 
ing the day and rap them with a stick, causing 
many of the larger beetles to fall to the ground 
where they can be crushed with the hoe, or 
trampled under foot. This pest multipUes 
with astonishing rapidity, and reaches develop- 
ment in so short a time that the importance 
of preventing the young beetles from maturing 
will be readily understood after a little experi- 
ence with them. 

Many growers of the potato combine Bor- 
deaux mixture with Paris green in spraying, 
as spoken of in the chapter on Insecticides 
and Fungicides. The copper sulphate has a 
tendency to prevent blight and scab, they 
claim. If the soil on which your potatoes 

112 



What to Grow 



are planted is low, or heavy, it may be well 
to try this method. 

Early Rose is perhaps the best early sort. 
Beauty of Hebron is good sized and matures 
quickly. Early Ohio is edible before it ripens. 
Burbank's Seedling is a medium early sort. 
Rural New York No. 2 heads the list of late 
varieties, because of its keeping qualities. 

Sweet potatoes require more warmth and a 
well drained or sandy soil. They form a very 
important crop in the South. Planting con- 
sists of two operations. In the spring, the 
tubers are placed four to six inches under the 
soil in hot-beds or in other warm location where 
a number of shoots or ''slips'' sprout from each. 
In about a month, when the shoots are several 
inches above the ground, they are cut o& and 
planted in the garden row eighteen inches apart. 
To aid growth, these rows should be in the form 
of broad ridges. If the parent potatoes are left 
in the ground another lot of sprouts will grow. 
Dig up the crop before the first autumn frost 
is due. 

pmiPKiN 

Probably few amateur gardeners will attempt 
the culture of this vegetable because of its 
rampant habit of growth. In the average 

8 113 



The Home Garden 



small garden it will occupy room which might 
better be given over to other plants. But if 
economy of space does not have to be con- 
sidered, it is well to have a few hills of it to 
furnish material for the good old pumpkin pie 
which always seems to have a finer flavor if 
made from pumpkins of one's own growing. 

Give it a rich, light soil — one of sandy loam, 
if possible. Plant in May, after the ground 
has become warm, in hills at least eight feet 
apart, having two or three plants to a hill. 

The yotmg plants must be protected from 
frost and the squash beetle. Dusting them 
with land plaster or road dust will drive away 
this enemy, or they may be covered with net- 
ting. A cone of paper placed over the plants 
on a cold night will prevent injury from frost. 

After some fruit has set, cut off the end of 
the vines to prevent further production, thus 
throwing the strength of the plant into the 
development of the fruit already set. 

The best sort for garden culture is the Sugar 
or New England Pie Pumpkin. This is small, 
with a firm, fine-grained flesh of great sweet- 
ness. It makes excellent pies. It is a good 
keeper if gathered before frost touches it, and 

114 



What to Grow 



stored in a rather cool, dry place. The cellar 
is generally too damp for it. An airy, frost- 
proof loft is a better place in which to keep it. 

RADISH 

Not much space will be required for growing 
this favorite vegetable, as large quantities can 
be grown in small space. As it soon matures, 
it will be out of the way early in the season, 
and the ground originally given up to it can 
be planted with other vegetables. 

A light, sandy soil is the ideal one for the 
radish. Quickness of gro^^h is very important. 
It must be hurried ahead as rapidly as pos- 
sible, and this is best done by making the soil 
very rich, and choosing a location fully ex- 
posed to the Sim. Use old, well-decomposed 
manure, and work it thoroughly into the soil, 
which should be turned over and over until 
it is as fine as it can possibly be made. Sow 
the seed in rows four inches apart. Cover 
lightly. In order to have a succession, continue 
to sow seed at intervals of a week or ten days. 

For a very early crop, sow in hot-bed, where 
the plants can be allowed to remain until they 
mature. 

115 



The Home Garden 



Best varieties, Scarlet Turnip, White Globe, 
and Early Red. 

Radishes can be grown for winter use by 
sowing in September or October. They can 
be kept for some time by packing in sand, and 
storing away from reach of frost. They should 
not be placed in a warm cellar, as a high tem- 
perature will cause them to wilt, and, after a 
little, to start into growth. Under either of 
these conditions, they will be worthless. A 
root cellar, in which the temperature is but 
little above the frost-point is the best place 
for them. 

SALSIFY 

One of the most delicious of vegetables for 
late fall and winter use is salsify, more com- 
monly known as vegetable oyster, because it 
has a flavor somewhat similar to that of the 
bivalve. 

It can be kept as long and as satisfactorily 
as the parsnip by digging it in November, 
just before the ground is likely to freeze for 
the winter, packing it in sand, and storing in 
the cellar. A quantity should always be left 
in the ground for use in spring. 

ii6 



What to Grow 



Grow in light soil, well manured, and deeply 
worked. It can be sown any time after the 
ground is in working condition. Sow in rows, 
leaving about four inches between the plants. 
There are but few varieties, of which Sandwich 
Island Mammoth is the best for general culture. 

SQUASH 

This favorite vegetable is easily grown if 
given a rich and mellow soil. 

There are summer squashes, and fall or 
winter ones. The summer varieties are edible 
only when full-grown, but unripe. They last 
but a short time. The late sorts must be well 
ripened to be palatable. They will keep 
through the winter in excellent condition if 
stored in a dry place which is cool, but not 
enough so to admit frost in cold weather. The 
cellar is not the place for them, being too damp, 
as a general thing. They are almost sure to 
rot there. The air of the place in which they 
are kept must be dry. 

The best summer sorts are the Crookneck and 
Long Island Bush. The standard variety for 
winter use is the good old Hubbard, which has 
not been improved on in the last twenty-five 

117 



The Home Garden 



years. This is very rich in quality, tender, sweet, 
and thick meated. It is fine for pie making. 
Give the culture advised for melons. 

TOMATO 

This vegetable cannot be omitted from any 
garden without leaving one open to the charge 
of not living up to his privilege. Perhaps no 
other is so generally useful. It can be prepared 
in so many w^ays that the housewife who has 
a generous supply of it will feel herself equal 
to almost any emergency along culinary lines. 

To secure an early crop, start the plants off 
in the hot-bed. This is quite necessary at the 
north, if one would get the full benefit of the 
plant, as many sorts, grown from planting in 
the open ground, will not mature their crop 
before frost comes. 

Do not set the seedlings from the hot-bed 
out in the ground until there is no longer any 
danger of frosty weather, as they are very 
tender. It may be necessary to cover them 
on cold nights, after they are set out, even if 
the temperature does not go low enough for 
frost, as a chill will injure them almost as 
much as an actual freeze, so delicate are they. 

ii8 



What to Grow 



Have the soil fine and rich. Set the plants 
about two feet apart. I have grown my best 
crops by training the plants on trellises. This 
keeps the fruit off the ground, thus preventing 
rot, and it enables the sun to get at it, thus 
hastening ripening. It will be necessary to tie 
the branches firmly, and with a stout string, 
as, when well set with fruit, they will be much 
too heavy to support themselves. In the case 
of late sorts, I find it advisable to cut off the 
ends of the branches after they have set con- 
siderable fruit. This stops the further produc- 
tion of fruit, and throws the strength of the 
plant to the development of the early setting, 
and greatly expedites matters. A plant allowed 
to have its own way will go on blooming and 
setting fruit until frost comes, and, as a natural 
consequence, it will be so late in perfecting 
its crops that quite likely none of it will ripen 
fully before cold weather comes. 

If, at the coming of cold weather, your 
plants are well set with fully grown but only 
oartially ripened fruit, pull them up by the 
roots, hang thern on the sunny side of a build- 
ing, and let the warmth and sunshine of pleas- 
ant days finish the ripening process as it will, 

119 



The Home Garden 



very satisfactorily. Hang a blanket or some- 
thing similar over the vines at night. 

Tomatoes can be kept imtil Christmas in a 
cool, dry room, by spreading them on racks or 
shelves, so they will not touch each other. 

The standard variety is Ponderosa, a large, 
solid-fleshed, tender and finely-flavored kind 
which bears enormous crops. Early Freedom 
is a quick-maturing sort which ripens several 
weeks ahead of Ponderosa. 

TURNIP 

This plant can be grown as a by-crop by 
sowing it among the com or potatoes. Simply 
scatter the seed over the ground, and rake it 
in, Sow^ at intervals of two weeks for a suc- 
cession. The white turnip is edible only when 
full grown. After that it soon becomes pithy 
and stringy. But the Rutabaga, or yellow 
turnip, is quite unlike its relative in this respect. 
It keeps sw^eet and tender imtil late in the 
winter. It will be foimd much more satis- 
factory for table use than the white kind. It 
keeps best in cool cellars or pits. 

The crop intended for late fall and winter 
use should be grown from seed sown in August. 

I20 



XII. 

GREENS" AND MISCELLANEOUS PLANTS 



Most persons like greens, especially in spring 
when the system seems to demand a change 
from the somewhat heavy and restricted diet 
of winter. We gather dandelions from road- 
side and pasture, but they are so small that it 
takes a bushel basketful to make a ''mess," 
so many have to be discarded as worthless, and 
a great deal of work is involved in ''looking 
them over," and preparing them for cooking. 

Now this plant can be grown to perfection 
by cultivating it in the garden. By treating 
it as well as other plants are treated, it grows 
to good size, each crown forming a thick mass 
of foHage, and one plant will furnish ten times 
the amount of material for cooking that you 
get from a wild plant. 

It can be had very early in spring by invert- 
ing a box over it, as soon as the frost is out of 
the ground. Leave the box in place for several 
days. The exclusion from light will blanch 

121 



The Home Garden 



the newly formed leaves, and make them far 
tenderer than those of the wild plant. It will 
also extract some of the bitter quality which 
seems to be, to some extent at least, the result 
of exposure to sunshine. No lover of greens 
who has a garden can afford to depend upon the 
highway or pasture for a supply of this health- 
ful and really delicious vegetable. 

Gather seed as soon as it ripens, and gets 
into the fluffy stage, and sow it in drills, cover- 
ing very lightly. Thin out the plants so that 
each one left will have ample space in which 
to develop. It will be necessary to grow new 
plants each year, as, in gathering them for the 
table, the crown of the old plant will have to 
be cut away, thus putting an end to its life. 
Those who simply pluck away the foUage 
from about the crown make a great mistake. 
The most delicious part of the plant is the 
crown itself, with its mass of tender, unfolded 
foliage, and blossom-buds. This portion, when 
well blanched, makes a most appetizing salad. 

Seedling beet plants make a very tender, 
delicate green. They are most pleasing when 
cooked with salt pork, as that gives them a 
flavor which they lack w^hen cooked alone. 

122 



^^Greens'* and Miscellaneous Plants 



However, the use of horseradish, freshly grated, 
pepper, mustard, or vinegar, supplies the lack, 
and makes the dish very satisfactory to most 
appetites. 

The plants can be used until their roots 
have grown to be an inch or more across, roots 
and tops being cooked together. 

Lettuce is often cooked for greens, but, like 
the beet, it calls for some condiment with 
decided flavor to make it entirely satisfactory. 

Mustard, if gathered while young and tender, 
is highly prized as greens, because it has so 
pungent a flavor of its own. If cooked with 
beets or lettuce it adds a piquancy which will 
be greatly appreciated by most persons. 

Spinach is perhaps the most extensively 
grown plant we have in the ''green" line. It 
is tender, well flavored, early, and easily grown. 
Sow at intervals of ten days or two weeks in 
order to secure a succession. 

Most housewives will be glad to have on 
hand a supply of what the seedsmen call "pot 
herbs," for flavoring soups, roasts, stews, 
and sausage. 

Sage and summer savory are used more 
than all other kinds. Both are easily grown, 

123 



The Home Garden 



and a few plants will be sufficient to supply 
the wants of a large family. Cut them when 
they are in bud. Hang them in a shady place 
until dry. Then crumble the leaves from the 
stalk, pulverize them finely, and put the pow- 
der into bottles and cork tightly. Prepared 
in this way, they will retain their strength 
much better than when kept in paper bags, as 
is the usual custom. 

If pepper plants are cut off close to the 
ground, when their fruit is partially ripened, 
and hung in a dry place where the sun can get 
at them, they will ripen nearly all their pods. 
In this way they can be kept fresh throughout 
the greater part of winter. Of course the 
fruit will shrivel somewhat, but by putting it 
into warm water for a few minutes it will 
freshen up wonderfully, and become almost as 
plump as when gathered from the garden. 
This puts the pod in good shape for use in 
soups, salads, and the various kinds of ''pic- 
calillies'' which women can prepare during 
the winter season from odds and ends of vege- 
tables at their disposal. 

Endive is widely grown for salad use. To 
make it edible, the leaves of half-matured 

124 



"Greens" and Miscellaneous Plants 



plants should be folded over each other com- 
pactly and tied. This causes them to blanch, 
and become very tender. It is well to cover 
the plants thus treated with a roofing of boards, 
oil-cloth, or something that will exclude rain, 
as water getting among the foliage will be sure 
to cause rot. This plant is also good for greens. 

Every garden should have a few roots of 
horseradish for spring use. It can be planted 
in out-of-the-way corners, where it will not 
interfere with other plants, and there it will 
take care of itself if weeds and grass are kept 
down. It grows from a division of old roots. 
Simply a piece of root having a growing point, 
or eye, under the ground, will speedily develop 
into a strong plant. Let the soil be rich and 
light. Young leaves of this plant make excel- 
lent greens, as they have something of the 
pungency peculiar to the grated root. 

Those who grow and prepare their own 
horseradish will have an article far superior, 
in every respect, to the article to be bought of 
grocers. To have it in perfection it must be 
freshly dug and grated at once. It loses the 
tang which makes it so delightful an excitant 
of the appetite after standing for a short time 

125 



The Home Garden 



in vinegar. Therefore it is advisable to pre- 
pare it in small quantities, using freshly dug 
root each time. 

Swiss Chard is a variety of beet having very 
large leaves. These, being tender and well 
flavored, are much prized for greens. The 
large midribs of the leaves are often cut out and 
served like asparagus. Give the same culture 
as advised for the beet. 

Sweet marjoram is used as a seasoning for 
soups and roasts by many, but most persons 
prefer summer savory, which is somewhat 
similar in flavor. 

Dill is used to give a flavor to pickles, and 
sometimes in soups and sauces. 

Sweet Basil is valued as a flavoring for 
highly seasoned soups and stews, and some- 
times in salads. 



XIII. 

ASPARAGUS AND RHUBARB. 



Asparagus, one of the most delicious of all 
vegetables, is doubly prized because it can be 
had so early in the season. From old, well- 
established plantings, it can be cut for at least 
two months, or imtil other vegetables come 
in to take its place. 

It is a plant anyone can grow, and it will 
grow almost anywhere. But it does not follow 
from this that asparagus is a plant that will 
take care of itself. True, it will live on and on, 
and I do not know that it would ever die out, 
though utterly neglected, but, in order to get 
a fine article, it is very necessary that the plant 
should be given care and cultivation. There 
is no vegetable that we grow that will better 
repay good treatment. 

This vegetable seems to do best in rather 
sandy soils, but, as has been said, it will grow 
in all gardens, and do well if thoroughly ma- 
nured, without much regard to the nature of 

127 



The Home Garden 



the soil. Heavy soils will be greatly benefited 
by working sand into them, until they take on 
a friable quality. Plenty of food is the secret 
of successful culture, with the amateur. 

Asparagus can be grown from seed, or from 
roots, which seedsmen furnish in one, two, and 
three-year-old. sizes. I would advise planting 
roots, as you will get plants of cutting size a 
year or two sooner than you will from seedlings, 
and they will require less attention. Two- 
year-old roots are best. 

Conover's Colossal is one of the standard 
varieties for planting at the north. The Mam- 
moth is very fine flavored, tender, and prolific. 
There are several other kinds listed in the cata- 
logues, but there is very little difference be- 
tween them. Most kinds are good. There is 
not so much difference in quality as in size. 
As a general thing, the larger sorts are coarser 
than those of medium habit, but good cultiva- 
tion will make almost any kind tender and fine 
flavored. 

Plant the roots in rows four feet apart, and 
two and a half feet apart in the row. 

The crowns of the plants should be at least 
six inches below the surface. In order to get 

128 



Asparagus and Rhubarb 



them deep enough, dig trenches to receive 
them, making due allowance for the extra 
depth required for the roots. Shallow planting 
is never satisfactory. 

Make the soil very rich by working into it 
liberal quantities of well-decomposed manure. 
Cow-manure is better than anything else, in 
the line of fertilizers. Keep the ground free 
from weeds. Cover the rows with coarse ma- 
nure in fall. In spring, fork this covering into 
the soil well, and add more manure. Keep the 
groimd about the plants well cultivated 
throughout the season. 

If the growth is strong, some may be cut 
the second season. But do not cut close, or 
later than the first fortnight. 

Many advise a top-dressing of salt, each spring, 
believing that the flavor of the plant is improved 
thereby. I have never been able to see that any- 
thing was gained by this apphcation, except in 
the way of keeping down weeds, and these will 
be effectually disposed of without salt if you 
cultivate the ground well. As I have said, more 
depends on high feeding than anything else. 

The asparagus beetle often does consid- 
erable injury to the plants. An application 
9 129 



The Home Garden 



of one part pyrethrum powder to five parts 
flour is advised, dusting it lightly over the 
plants. 

Of late years, much harm has been done by 
what is generally known as ''rust/* The 
trouble really comes from a fungus which 
attacks the plants and spreads rapidly from 
spores. The best remedy I have any knowl- 
edge of is the Bordeaux mixture spoken of in 
the chapter on Insecticides and Fungicides. 
Spray it all over the plants, as soon as the 
presence of the fungus is discovered. If this 
is not done promptly the entire plant will soon 
take on a rusty, red look. Then the thing to 
do is to cut the plants off close to the groimd, 
and bum the tops to make sure that no spores 
are left to vegetate next season. But this 
method should only be resorted to when other 
means of checking the difficulty fail, as the top 
is needed to complete the annual development 
of the plant. 

A bed of asparagus will be found one of the 
most appreciable features of the home garden, 
and, well made, it is good for a life time, grow- 
ing better with age if the soil is thoroughly 
enriched each year, and weeds and grass are 

130 



Asparagus and Rhubarb 



prevented from crowding it. Whatever manure 
is used should be well worked into the soil on 
each side of the row — not simply spread on 
the surface. Get it down where the roots can 
get at it. 

RHUBARB 

Another of the vegetables no well-regulated 
family can afford to go without is rhubarb. A 
pie made from tender stalks of it in early spring 
has all the deliciousness of an apple pie, and 
a flavor that the latter seldom has without the 
addition of spices. The housewife can make 
use of it in so many ways that she will not 
willingly be without it after having found out 
what can be done with it. She will consider it 
one of the garden standbys. 

Rhubarb will, like asparagus, grow almost 
any\\"here, and under all conditions, but, to 
get best results it must be given a deep, rich, 
mellow soil, and the soil must be kept rich, 
year after year. 

Set in rows about four feet apart, and two 
feet or more apart in the row. Three feet 
would be better, if one does not have to econ- 
omize space, as old plants make a very strong 
growth, and cover a large amount of surface. 

131 



The Home Garden 



Rhubarb is a gross feeder, and speedily 
exhausts the soil in which it is planted, there- 
fore manure must be used in very liberal quan- 
tities, or there will soon be a falling off in the 
size and quality of the plant. To be tender 
and delicate in flavor, it must make a rapid 
growth in spring. 

Cover the roots with coarse litter in fall, and 
work this into the soi) in spring, adding a gen- 
erous amount of well-rotted manure from the 
barnyard, at the same time. Do this as soon 
as the frost is out of the ground. 

Be sure to keep all flowering stalks cut 
ofif. If it is allowed to develop seed, the 
plant will throw all its energies into this per- 
formance, and next season you will be likely 
to have a greatly weakened plant as a natural 
consequence. 

You can have rhubarb very early in the 
season by setting a headless barrel over a plant 
as soon as the frost is out of the ground, and 
banking up about it with horse-manure. The 
young stalks, from such forcing, will be ex- 
tremely delicate in texture, and of the finest 
flavor, and will lack the acidity which charac- 
terizes the later growth. 

132 



Aspara^s and Rhubarb 



Large clumps of roots may be taken up in 
fall, packed in boxes, and stored away in sheds 
where they will remain dormant for a time. 
Then take them to the cellar, give them a 
place where they will get some light and a 
moderate amount of warmth, and in a little 
while they will begin to grow, and from them 
you will get material for pies that will be highly 
enjoyable in midwinter. 



XIV. 

STRAWBERRIES 



Perhaps no fruit has been more written 
about than the strawberry. Its popularity 
increases constantly, because those who have 
gardens find on trial that they can grow it 
very satisfactorily, if not to perfection. 

Nearly every amateur who begins straw- 
berry cultivation feels in duty bound to ''read 
up'' about it before making a start, and so 
voluminous is our literature along this line 
that after he has read several ''Books on the 
Strawberry" he is more at a loss as to what to 
do than he was before he began his investiga- 
tions, because almost every author advises 
his ow^n particular method as the method par 
excellence, and the beginner does not consider 
himself competent to decide between those 
who set themselves up as authority. This is 
not to be wondered at, for growers and writers 
differ greatly about some features of straw- 
berry growing. This difference, I am inclined 

134 



Strawberries 



to think, is largely the restilts of a difference in 
location and soil, which fact the writers have 
ignored to a considerable extent, laying stress 
on method more than anything else. 

The fact is, the strawberry is a plant that 
will do comparatively well under almost any 
culture, provided it really is culture. Simply 
setting out plants and letting them take care 
of themselves after that is not culture. Culture 
means care and attention, and if the straw- 
berry is given even a small amount of either 
it will do better than almost anything else 
that can be grown in the home garden. This 
I have satisfied myself of from several years 
of personal experience and observation. 

So elaborate are the instructions given by 
some writers on this fruit that the amateur 
cannot be expected to follow them, because 
he cannot give all his time to one phase of gar- 
dening, as he would be obliged to do if he were 
to set out to grow strawberries according to 
some of the so-called scientific methods. The 
writer of this book once attempted to do that, 
but he soon came to the conclusion that a 
common-sense method was preferable, and he 
has been very well satisfied with the result. 

135 



The Home Garden 



The instructions which follow tell how he has 
grown this delicious fruit for a good many 
years in his own garden. They do not claim to 
be scientific in any sense of the term — just sen- 
sible, from the standpoint of the home gardener. 

I would advise making the strawberry bed 
in spring, because the plants will have all the 
season to grow in and will attain a fine condi- 
tion for giving a full crop the following season. 
If set out in fall — as they can be, to good ad- 
vantage, if the work cannot be done in spring — 
they will give a partial crop the next season, 
but not a full crop until the following year. 

In getting the ground ready for the reception 
of plants, plow or spade it well, and work the 
soil over until it is fine and mellow, incorpo- 
rating with it a generous amount of well-rotted 
barnyard-manure, or, in case you cannot obtain 
this, such fertilizers as those who are familiar 
with the soil in your locality think are needed. 
It is necessary that the soil be quite rich if you 
want a strong development of plants, and a 
good crop of fruit depends largely on this. On 
no account make use of fresh manure. 

Lay the plantation oft into rows at least 
three feet apart. Four would be better, if 

136 



Strawberries 



you can spare the ground. Set the plants at 
least eighteen inches apart in the row. A good 
many persons advise a foot, but I have found 
that plants set as closely as that are pretty 
sure to crowd each other, if they make a strong 
growth, and this is something to guard against 
while they are making their first season's 
development. Plant farther apart and you 
will get more and finer fruit from a less number 
of plants than you would from a larger number 
closely set. 

In setting the plants be very careful to do 
good work, as much depends on the start they 
get early in the season, and, if carelessly planted, 
they will be a long time in getting thoroughly 
established. It does not take long to set them 
out in a haphazard way, but the plants will 
lose a thousand-fold more time by that method 
of planting than you will gain. Well-set plants 
will begin to grow right away, and as they 
will have none of the difficulties of poor plant- 
ing to overcome their development will be rapid 
from the start. Spread out their roots as evenly 
and naturally as possible, and make the soil 
firm about them by pressing it down with the 
foot. Cut away all bruised and diseased leaves 

137 



The Home Garden 



at the time of planting, and, if the plants have 
been long out of the ground, shorten their roots 
somewhat. This can be rapidly and easily 
done by gathering them together in the left 
hand, holding them in a compact bunch, and 
clipping off their tips squarely with a sharp 
knife or the pruning-shears. If this is done, 
the shortened roots will soon send out feeders 
from their tips, and the plants will get a much 
stronger and speedier start than they would if 
planted with the old more or less mutilated 
roots left in the condition in which they w^ere 
sent out by the grower. This is true of almost 
all plants grown from a division of the roots. 

If the plants are quite dry when received, 
place them in a pan of water for a short time 
before planting. 

If you procure your plants from a friend 
and must carry them some distance, either pud- 
dle their roots by dipping them in a mixture of 
clay and water of the consistency of cream, or 
pack them in damp moss. Care should always 
be taken to keep the roots of strawberry plants 
moist from lifting to planting time. 

Early in the season the plants will begin to 
throw out runners. Go along the rows, at 



Strawberries 



least once a week, and with a sharp spade cut 
off every runner that reaches over a foot from 
the plant into the row. Those in the row need 
not be interfered with. 

After cutting the runners away from the 
plants, go between the rows with the garden 
cultivator and uproot every plant that has 
begun to establish itself there. Keep the 
ground well stirred and wholly free from weeds. 
This is easily done if the cultivator is kept 
going throughout the season. 

Clipping off the ends of the runners will 
throw the strength of the plant into the devel- 
opment of itself, and the result will be strong, 
sturdy specimens at the close of the season, 
from which a good crop of fruit can reasonably 
be expected the next summer. 

The above gives the treatment I would 
advise for the first year. 

The second year, after the crop has been 
gathered, I would allow runners to reach out 
between the rows and take root there. It is 
highly important that the ground between the 
rows be well fertilized, frequently cultivated, 
and kept entirely free from weeds, in order to 
give these runners a chance to secure a good 

139 



The Home Garden 



foothold. After they have begun to throw out 
roots from their joints, the use of the cultivator 
can be dispensed with in their immediate 
locality. 

After a sufficient number of plants have 
gotten started between the row^s to furnish as 
many as you think are needed, cut them loose 
from the old plants, and then go through the 
old row with the cultivator, uprooting every 
plant, or, if you choose to do so, turn them 
under with the spade. By this method you 
get a fresh set of roots for fruiting each season 
and crop them but once, and by allowing them 
to plant themselves by runner-propagation, 
you are saved the trouble of preparing new beds. 
Another advantage gained is that each year 
the plants are shifted to soil that has not been 
exhausted by a crop of fruit, but has been 
made rich for the reception of new^ plants. 

I have grown strawberries in this way, in 
the same bed for several years in succession. 
Shifting the rows each year, as described, has 
kept the plants as strong and healthy as they 
would have been if set out in entirely new beds. 
And why should they not be, since they renew 
themselves each season? 

140 



Strawberries 



The work of growing strawberries is greatly 
simplified by this method, and any amateur 
can understand it perfectly and see the advan- 
tages of it readily. 

In fall, cover the plants with coarse hay or 
straw, but do not use too much or you may 
smother them. It should not be more than 
three inches deep. Some advise leaving this 
on the ground, in spring, to prevent the berries 
from coming in contact with the soil, but I 
would prefer taking the chances of their keep- 
ing clean without it, as it interferes greatly 
with the use of the cultivator, and you cannot 
afford to let the ground go umvorked about 
your plants. 

In spring, a liberal amount of good manure 
should be applied. This should go into the 
soil close to the roots of the plants. 

Some varieties are staminate, some pistillate. 
Pistillate varieties must have perfect-flowered 
plants every^ eight or nine feet in the row, to 
poUenize them. 

There are so many fine sorts on the market 
that it is not an easy matter to decide which 
are best. Indeed, it is not possible to decide this 
matter except in a general way, because some 

141 



The Home Garden 



kinds do well in one soil and poorly in another. 
Before deciding on what kind to plant, ascer- 
tain from growers in your neighborhood what 
sorts they have succeeded with, and be gov- 
erned largely by their advice. 

Among the most popular varieties in general 
cultivation today are Bederwood, large, early, 
and a great bearer, Haverland, early and won- 
derfully productive; Sample, late, large, pro- 
ductive and fine-flavored; Sharpless, large, 
rich, and a great mid-season bearer, and Gandy, 
very late (a comparatively new candidate for 
popular favor that everyone who has grown it 
speaks well of). In order to prolong the season, 
I would advise planting both early and late 
sorts. 



XV. 

RASPBERRIES AND BLACKBERRIES 



The home garden is not complete unless it 
contains such small fruits as the raspberr}^ and 
blackberry. They are second only to the straw- 
berry in general flavor, and both would be 
much more extensively grown than they are 
at present if persons understood how easily 
they can be managed, and what generous 
returns they make for the comparatively small 
amoimt of care they require. 

The raspberrj' is much more widely culti- 
vated than the blackberry, for several reasons : 

1. It is considered hardier. 

2. It yields more bountifully. 

3. It is supposed to require less care. 

The first reason I consider of little account, 
because both plants must be given some pro- 
tection in winter, at the north, in order to bring 
them through safely. And it is just as easy to 
protect one as the other. 

While it may be true that one gets more 
143 



The Home Garden 



fruit from the raspberry than from the black- 
berry, it is not the equal of the latter in quality, 
therefore where quaHty is considered of more 
importance than quantity one cannot afford to 
overlook the latter plant. I would not be 
understood, from this, as meaning to convey 
the impression that the raspberry is an inferior 
fruit. It is really a most excellent one. But 
the peculiar flavor and wine-like juiciness of 
the blackberry, combined with its delightful 
acidity, makes it a general favorite wherever 
it is grown to perfection. In short, while the 
raspberry is good — very good indeed — the 
blackberry is a little better. 

The prevalent impression that the black- 
berry requires more care than the raspberry 
is not well founded. In fact, it can be grown 
quite as easily. Both plants are grown from 
root-cuttings, as a general thing. That is, 
nurserymen procure their stock from that 
manner of propagation, and it is the best 
method for the amateur to follow if he sets out 
to grow his own plants, because it is likely to 
give stronger plants than any other. Old 
plants are dug up, and their roots are cut apart 
in such a manner that each piece reserved for 

144 



Raspberries and Blackberries 



planting has a growing point. These pieces, 
taken in fall, are put into boxes of sand, and 
buried in the ground and left there over winter. 
A callus forms on each piece during the winter, 
from w^hich roots will be emiitted later on, when 
the pieces are planted in the open ground, in 
spring. The nature of this callus is not very 
clearly understood, as yet, but it is supposed 
that it in some way supports the root-cutting 
until such a time as roots are formed for that 
purpose. These cuttings should be planted in 
rows in fine soil, and left there until they have 
made considerable growlh. Then they should 
be transplanted to the place in the garden 
where they are expected to bear fruit. 

Let me say, right here, that all kinds of small 
fruit should be planted at one side of the vege- 
table garden, or somewhere where they will 
not interfere with the plowing and cultivating 
of the latter. Give them a place of their own, 
and make it a permanent one. 

Most amateur gardeners will prefer to pur- 
chase their plants of the nurseryman. Indeed, 
this is the most satisfactory thing to do, unless 
one chooses from motives of economy to prop- 
agate his own stock from old roots which he 
10 145 



The Home Garden 



can procure from a neighbor who has plants to 
give away. 

The plants sent out from the dealers will be 
one-year-old ones. That is, they will have had 
one season's growth from root-cuttings. Set 
them out in rows five feet apart, and at least 
four feet apart in the row. Five, or even six, 
will be better, if you have plenty of garden 
space at your disposal, as that will give you 
more room to work among them. They will 
be likely to about half cover the ground the 
first season, if you give them a rich soil and 
keep them going steadily ahead, as you should 
if you expect a good crop of fruit from them 
next year. 

Keep the cultivator going among them most 
of the season. If they do not seem to be mak- 
ing as strong a growth as you think necessary 
apply more manure, and work it well about the 
roots of the plants. 

After the first year, when the plants have 
become thoroughly established, they will make 
so strong a growth that they will meet in the 
rows, and it will be a difficult matter to use the 
cultivator between them. Here the hoe will 
come in play. 

146 



Raspberries and Blackberries 



My method of training is this: I set stakes 
about eight feet apart, on each side of the row, 
about a foot away from the plants. These 
stakes should be at least four feet tall, and 
stout enough to stand the strain of two wires 
run along them from one end of the row to the 
other, one about two feet from the ground, and 
the other at the top. To these wires, in spring, 
I tie the canes of last year's growth, — the fruit- 
ing stalks of the plants, — dividing them as 
evenly as possible between the two sides of the 
row. 

This answers a two-fold purpose. It supports 
the canes in such a manner that they are easily 
gotten at, at picking time, and their fruit is 
kept away from the dirt into which some of 
them would be likely to fall, under their own 
weight, if no support were given. And it allows 
the new growth of the season to be thrown up 
in the middle of the row where it will not inter- 
fere in the least with the fruit-bearing portions 
of the plants. 

After the old canes have ripened their crop 
of fruit, cut them off. They have completed 
their work, and the sooner they are out of the 
way the better. Next year the growth of this 

147 



The Home Garden 



season should be spread out and tied to the 
wires in the same manner, and the plants 
allowed to renew themselves by sending up a 
growth of canes, as described above. This 
process goes on year after year. The old roots 
remain, but we get an entirely new growth of 
fruiting stalks each season. 

This method will be found very satisfactory, 
as it keeps the growth of each season apart, 
and makes it easy to remove the old wood. It 
is not an easy matter to do this if the growth 
of each season is allowed to mix with each 
other. It is largely because of this difficulty 
that so many plantations of these plants are 
neglected. One cannot handle the plants with- 
out serious injury to the hands, therefore they 
are let alone, and after a year or two of neglect 
they fail to give good crops and it is decided 
that the raspberries ''have run out," and the 
plants are torn up and raspberry growing is 
abandoned as a failure. The failure is not 
with the plants. It is in the method of 
caring for them. 

At the time of cutting away the old canes, I 
remove the stakes and wires because they will 
be in the way when the time comes to give the 

148 



Raspberries and Blackberries 



plants winter protection, and they also inter- 
fere with the use of the cultivator, which 
should be run along the rows frequently after 
the seasons' crop of fruit has been gathered, to 
keep grass and weeds from getting estabhshed 
among the plants, and to prevent the soil from 
becoming hard. 

Many ''scientific" growers of these plants 
advocate a system of pruning for the young 
growth of each season which is so complex in 
its details that I do not believe one amateur 
in a thousand ever attempts to follow it. I 
am frank to admit that I never have, because 
I could never see the necessity of it, for one 
thing, and I did not have the time to devote 
to such elaborate treatment, for another. My 
system of pruning is so simple that there is 
really hardly enough about it to be called a 
system. It consists in mpping off the top of 
the young canes, when they are about three 
feet high. This encourages the production of 
laterals, and gives as much bearing surface as 
the plants can do justice to. This is all the 
pruning my plants get, except in the cutting 
away of the old growth, after fruiting, and the 
occasional thinning out of young canes if there 

149 



The Home Garden 



seems to be more than are necessary. If a 
cane is pinched back when about three feet 
tall, it will not make more than a foot more of 
growth, that season, and this will make it just 
about the right height to tie to your upper 
wire in spring. 

The ground should be well manured each 
season. Work whatever fertilizer you use into 
the soil about the roots, that the plants may 
get the full benefit of it early in the season, 
when fruit is setting. By keeping the soil 
highly manured, you increase the size of the 
fruit and you secure a strong growth of canes 
for fruiting next season. A little considera- 
tion of the matter will show you the necessity 
of using manure liberally. Do not lose sight 
of the fact that the plants have a double 
work to do — fruiting and self -perpetuation — 
and that they must be liberally fed in order 
to be able to do this work well. Indeed, if 
neglected for a single season, they will show 
signs of deterioration, and it will take some 
time to bring them back to the vigor they 
should never have been allowed to lose. 

If given proper care, a plantation of these 
fruits will remain in healthy condition for 

ISO 



ar 



Raspberries and Blackberries 

years. There is no reason why they should 
not if they are encouraged to fully renew them- 
selves annually. 

Both raspberries and blackberries should 
have protection in winter, at the north. My 
method of caring for them is this: I begin at 
the end of the row, and gather all the canes in 
a hill into a bunch, and bend them down to the 
ground as flatly as possible, working slowly 
and carefully, to avoid breaking or cracking 
the stalks at their junction with the roots. It 
is well to have an assistant when this work is 
done. One cannot do it very well alone. Let 
one person bend the plants over and hold them 
down, while the other puts a spadeful of soil 
on them to keep them in place. Then take 
the next hill, bend it down so that its top 
overlaps the crown of the hill first treated, and 
so continue until all the plants in a row are 
flat, and in a line from one end of it to the 
other. Then go along the rows, a man on each 
side, and with a spade throw soil up against the 
plants. After having done this, I put on a 
covering of coarse litter from the barnyard. 
Straw or hay will answer the same purpose. 
This is given to shade such parts of the plants 

151 



The Home Garden 



as are left exposed, not to keep out frost, as 
some might suppose. It is not frost which 
injures a tender plant. It is exposure to sun- 
shine, which extracts frost. At night, the 
plant freezes again, and the frequent alterna- 
tions of freezing and thawing results in a rup- 
ture of plant-cells. The covering of mulch 
keeps out the sun, and the canes remain frozen, 
which is precisely what we want. 

In spring, after the frost is out of the ground, 
remove the covering of mulch, and go along 
the rows with a pitchfork, inserting its tines 
under the canes and lifting them carefully out 
of the soil that was thrown over them in fall. 
At first they will have anything but an upright 
look, but as the sap begins to circulate in them 
they will resume their old position, and they 
can then be tied to the wires which should not 
be put in place until after the bushes have 
received their spring manuring, and the soil has 
been levelled down about them. Barnyard 
manure is best of all, but if it cannot be 
obtained, bone meal and other commercial 
fertilizers will give excellent results. 

The following varieties are suited to general 
culture : 

152 



Raspberries and Blackberries 



Black Raspberries. — Gregg. Large, pro- 
ductive, and fine flavored. One of the standard 
black-cap sorts. 

Miami Black Cap. Sweet, juicy, and very 
productive. 

Ohio Everbearing. Large, sweet, and very 
productive. This variety gives a fall crop 
from the canes of the current season's 
growth. 

Seneca. Large and fine flavored. A variety 
that always sells well. 

Purple Sorts. — Philadelphia. Good size, 
very hardy, wonderfully prolific. 

Purple Cane. Medium size, sweet, and high 
flavored, strong in habit, and very productive. 
Excellent for hom.e use, but too soft for 
marketing. 

Red Raspberries. — Cuthbert. Bright red, 
large, firm fieshed, but juicy. Very proHfic. 

Antwerp. Large, sw^eet, and with a pecu- 
liarly sprightly flavor. The standard market 
sort at the east. 

Blackberries. — Snyder. Very hardy. Not 
as large as some other kinds, but desirable 
because of its ability to stand a northern winter 
better than most sorts. 

153 



The Home Garden 



Western Triumph. Very large, sweet, and 
juicy. Too soft for market purposes, but 
excellent for home use. 

Wilson's Early. Large, firm, sweet, and fine 
flavored. Very early, ripening at least two 
weeks sooner than ordinary varieties. 

Ancient Briton. A small-berried kind from 
Wisconsin. Sweet, juicy, and of superior 
flavor. Very productive, valuable because it 
succeeds on soils where other kinds are failures. 



XVI. 

THE CURRANT AND THE GOOSEBERRY 



The oirrant is one of the best of all small 
fruits for general cultivation for several reasons : 
It seldom fails to bear a good crop. It is very 
hardy, requiring no protection in winter, even 
at the extreme north. It is of such easy culture 
that anyone can grow it who is Vvilling to give 
it a little attention. It is one of the most 
healthful of all garden fruits. And it is one of 
the housewife's standbys, being -unsurpassed 
for jellies, jams, preserving, pickling, and spic- 
ing, its deUghtful and sprightly acidity making 
it an almost necessar}' accompaniment of many 
meat dishes, with which a relish having a 
piquant flavor is demanded. For eating while 
fresh it is one of the pleasantest of all fruits 
with those who like something tart and juicy. 
The WTiter of this book much prefers it to 
the cherry. 

Every garden should have a dozen or more 
bushes of it. With good cultivation this ntim- 

155 



The Home Garden 



ber of bushes will yield so generously that few 
families will need more. 

The currant likes a rather heavy soil. One 
containing considerable clay suits it better than 
a light loam, but it will do very well in the 
latter. One thing it insists on, however, if you 
would have it bear good crops of fine, large 
fruit, and that is, plenty of manure. It is a 
gross feeder, and no one need be afraid of 
using too much fertilizer in the currant patch. 

Plants are easily grown from cuttings. Take 
half -ripened wood for this purpose. Cut it in 
six-inch lengths, and insert all but about two 
inches in the ground. In a short time roots 
will form. Set the plants thus secured in rows, 
in early fall, about a foot apart. Let them 
grow there until next season. They will be good, 
strong plants by fall. As soon as their foliage 
begins to show signs of ripening, set them in 
the rows where they are to fruit. There should 
be about four feet between the plants, and the 
rows should be six feet apart. Take up the 
young plants carefully, and make sure that 
the earth is packed firmly about their roots. 
Though there will be no more growth of top 
this season, they will be establishing themselves 

156 



The Currant and the Gooseberry 



during the interval between transplanting and 
the coming of cold weather, and next year a 
fair crop of fruit can reasonably be expected 
from them. But a full crop cannot be expected 
until the bushes have attained greater size. It 
takes a currant about four years from the 
cutting to reach its prime. 

Some advise training the plant as a standard 
— that is, allowing no shoots to grow from the 
base, but keeping it to one stalk. I prefer the 
bush form. I beHeve we get a much larger 
crop of fruit from it, and, in case of accident, 
the whole plant is not likely to be destroyed, 
as would be the case if it were trained to a 
single stalk. 

I would advise letting at least half a dozen 
stalks grow from the base of each plant. After 
this number get a good start, I would rub off 
all other shoots that appear and allow no more 
to grow until next season. Then I would allow 
another half dozen to develop, with a view to 
removing the older ones, by and by, thus 
renewing the plant from time to time and keep- 
ing it strong and vigorous. 

Each season I would go over each bush and 
cut out all weak wood, and thin it, if thick, so 

157 



The Home Garden 



that air can circulate freely. This, with the 
removal from time to time of the older growth, 
is about all the pruning I consider necessary. 
At any rate, it is about all that my bushes get, 
and I am well satisfied with my yearly currant 
crop. I get large, perfect fruit in abundance, 
but it is the result of high feeding, rather than 
of any other treatment. Manure your currants 
well and pruning is a matter of secondary impor- 
tance, except, as has been said, for the removal 
of weak wood and the purpose of occasional 
renewal. You cannot make any system of train- 
ing and pruning take the place of manuring. 

The ground about the bushes should be well 
worked and kept free from weeds and grass. 
This is a matter of very great importance. If 
the season happens to be a dry, hot one, it is a 
good plan to cover the soil with mulch. Mois- 
ture and coolness at the root are necessary to 
the development of a fine crop of fruit. 

The currant- worm often destroys the season's 
crop in a few days if let alone. As soon as its 
presence is discovered, dust powdered helle- 
bore over the entire plant. Care should be 
taken to get the fresh article. Old powder is 
generally worthless. Put it on the plants 

158 



The Currant and the Gooseberry- 



while they are wet with dew. Use it promptly 
and thoroughly, and repeat the operation 
daily, until not a worm is to be seen. 

Sometimes the currant-borer does a good 
deal of damage. If you find a shoot that seems 
lacking in vigor, and whose leaves have begun 
to turn yellow early in the season, examine 
its stalks closely, and in most instances you 
will discover the hole through which it has 
made entrance to the stalk. Cut away every 
such shoot. There is no application that will 
prove effective, as it will not reach the place 
where the borer is hidden away. 

Below I give a list of some of the best varie- 
ties for the amateur : 

Cherry. Very large, wonderfully productive. 

Red Dutch. Large, rich, and fine flavored. 
Great bearer. One of the standard kinds. 

White Grape. Considered the best white 
kind. Large, juicy, rich and sweet. 

White Dutch. A very fine sort. Large, rich 
in flavor, and sweeter than an}^ other kind. 

Black Naples. Enormous berry. Sweet, 
with a peculiar musky flavor which some 
persons dislike, but which most persons will 
appreciate after a little, if they do not at first. 

159 



The Home Garden 



The gooseberry requires very nearly the 
same treatment as the currant. Care must 
be taken, however, to thin out the bush so 
that there will be a free circulation of air. If 
this is not done mildew will most likely result 
from dampness, and the crop will be a failure. 
The only effective remedy for mildew, so far 
as my experience goes, is flower of sulphur 
dusted over the entire plant while its leaves 
are damp. The open-head system of pruning 
is, however, in my opinion, the best preventive 
of this disease. That, and high feeding, which 
makes the bush so strong that it overcomes the 
disease by its own vigor. I would advise plant- 
ing the gooseberry in airy locations, fully 
exposed to sunshine, but sheltered from cold 
winds and draughts, and keeping the ground 
cool by the liberal use of mulch. 

Perhaps the best varieties are Downing, and 
Houghton's Seedling. 



XVII. 

THE GRAPE 



The fact that so much has been written 
about the grape and its culture goes to prove 
its popularity. But this fact also acts as a 
discouraging factor with the amateur who is 
inclined to attempt its cultivation, for, as soon 
as he begins to ''read up" on grape culture, he 
finds himself facing so many theories that he 
soon gets sorely bewildered, and the result 
generally is that he abandons his plan because 
he feels himself incompetent to decide which 
of the many theories advocated he would be 
justified in following. In this connection I 
quote a paragraph from a recent article by 
E. P. Snell w^hich I consider very pertinent to 
the subject in hand, and in which the writer 
fully expresses my opinion : 

"So much has been written and said on the 
question of pruning that people have come to 
think it a matter almost beyond ordinary com- 
prehension. The many different methods advo- 
II i6i 



The Home Garden 



cated are simply the opinions of many different 
persons, all aiming at the one object, but differ- 
ing in methods and correspondingly in results. 
The one object of pruning is to keep the vine 
in a thrifty, healthy condition from year to 
year, by remo\^ng all of the superfluous growth 
of wood. The true method, and the one I try 
to follow, may be described as an ounce of good 
judgment combined with all the experience one 
may have at command. A vine, to be profit- 
able, must be so pruned as to be able to 
mature and ripen perfectly the greatest amount 
of fruit possible without injury to itself from 
overloading. And to determine the capacity 
of the vine, we must take into consideration 
conditions resulting from last year's growth. 
If the wood is short, the canes spindling, and 
they have not matured more than three feet 
of their groT^1:h before frost, we may be 
sure that the vine was overloaded, and next 
season at least a third less fruit buds should 
be left. So, also, if the vine has made an 
abundant growth of wood, we may know that 
a greater number of fruit buds may be left 
on for the following season, for it is reas- 
onable that a strong and healthy crop of 

162 



The Grape 



wood indicates the vine's ability to produce 
a larger crop of fruit." 

All of which means, when you come to sum 
it up, that an overloaded vine will make but 
poor growth of wood each season, and that the 
appearance of a vine at the end of the season 
will tell you whether you have asked too much 
or too little of it. 

This simplifies matters very much for the 
amateur, for it gives him something definite to 
base an opinion on. Let him discard theories, 
and plant his grape-vines, treat them in w^hat 
he considers a common-sense way, and wait 
for results, watching them carefully, and he 
will soon gain the facts from his experience 
which will enable him to make a success of his 
undertaking. Anybody can grow this delicious 
fruit who sets about it, and grow it well, too, 
and that without being a "scientific'' grape- 
culturist. 

My advice as to pnming is this : Watch the 
vines carefully as they make their annual 
growth, and rub off all but three or four of the 
strongest canes that start. Allow no others 
to grow during the season. This throws the 
strength of the plant into a few branches. In 

163 



The Home Garden 



fall, when the vines are laid down for winter, 
cut away all but three or four feet of this 
growth. Or, if you choose to do so, you can 
nip off the ends of these vines after they have 
made four or five feet of growth, during the 
growing season. The only objection to this 
plan is, that if done quite early side branches 
are sometimes set out, and this is not desirable. 
Some prefer to let pruning wait until spring. 
I do not think it makes much difference when 
it is done. The object is to shorten the branch, 
and it is well to do this at a time when it will 
bleed least. In spring, when fruit buds appear, 
rub off at least half that start. Apply the ad- 
vice given above by Mr. Snell as to the number 
you leave, basing your action on the general 
appearance of the vine. These things you must 
determine largely for yourself, for no advice 
can be given which will fit all cases fully. 

*'In pruning, remember that it is the new 
wood which bears the fruit. Remember, also, 
that the root can support only about so much 
stalk, and the less wood you have the larger 
the bunches of fruit. Little wood means full 
bunches. Long, straggling canes mean clusters 
bearing only a few berries each." That is what 

164 



The Grape 



Green's Fruit-Grower*' has to say on this 
subject, and it strikes me as putting the whole 
matter in a nutshell. 

The grape does very well in most soils, but 
it seems to have more of a liking for a gravelly 
loam than for a heavier soil. It likes liberal 
applications of manure yearly, but my experi- 
ence goes to show that it does not care to have 
it worked very deeply into the soil. Spread 
manure on the surface, cover it with a mulch, 
and let the plants get the benefit from rains 
which will extract its nutriment and carry it 
down into the earth about their roots. I am 
inclined to think that anything which disturbs 
the roots of a grape interferes with its vigor, 
temporarily at least, and that deep working of 
the soil is not advisable. But this will not pre- 
vent you from keeping the ground clean about 
the plants. Allow not a weed to grow there. 

Train your plants on a wire trellis, spreading 
the canes out horizontally, and tying them 
well as soon as they are lifted from the ground 
in spring. 

In fall, just before cold weather seems likely 
to set in, cut the vines loose from their trellis, 
and lay them fiat on the ground, and cover 

165 



The Home Garden 



with five or six inches of earth. Do not be in 
too great a hurry to uncover them in spring. 
Wait until the weather is warm enough to 
encourage growth. 

The best general purpose grape for culture 
at the north is the Concord. This succeeds 
every^^here and under almost any conditions. 

Delaware is a red grape, sweet, and delici- 
ously flavored. 

If you have a dealer in small-fruit plants in 
your locality, it might be well to consult him 
before setting out grape-vines. He w^ill doubt- 
less be able to tell you what kinds do best 
there. 

I have advised covering grape-vines in fall. 
In many sections of the north, this is not neces- 
sary. In many localities, however, this must 
be done, if one would have his vines come 
through the winter in good condition. The 
practice w^hich prevails in different sections of 
the country will enable the reader to decide 
this matter for himself. 



THE GARDENER'S CALENDAR 

SUGGESTIONS AND REMINDERS OF WORK APPROPRIATE 
TO EACH MONTH 



JANUARY 

There will not be much doing in strictly 
gardening operations this month, but one can 
be getting ready for the actual work of 
spring. 

Material for hot-beds and cold-frames can 
be got ready now. Everything can be done 
except putting them together. It is an excellent 
plan to paint them outside and in. If this is 
done, they will last for years, if it is not done, 
they will soon begin to decay from the effect of 
heat and moisture. 

I would advise putting the frames together 
with screws. This will admit of your taking 
them apart easily, after their use for the season 
is over, without breaking or otherwise injuring 
them, and they can be piled away in small 
space until wanted again. If not taken apart, 
they will be quite sure to be broken, as, from 

167 



The Home Garden 



their bulkiness, they will always be in the way 
no matter where you put them. 

You can save something by buying your 
sash unglazed and putting in the glass at home. 
For this purpose use the prepared putty sold 
under the name of Mastica. It is soft and 
easily applied, but soon hardens, and will last 
much longer than ordinary putty, which is 
generally adulterated with whiting. Paint 
the sash well before glazing. If you do not, 
the putty will not adhere to it. 

It will be found wise economy to use double- 
strength glass, for hot-bed and cold-frame sash. 
Look each pane over carefully when you pur- 
chase it, and reject those having spots and 
air-bubbles in them. These will act on the 
principle of a burning-glass, and focus the rays 
of the sim in such a manner that they will 
burn the plants beneath them. 

Get manure together for spring use. It can 
be piled in little heaps about the garden. Cover 
it to protect from rain. Order your fertilizers 
now, if you propose to make use of any. 

It is a good plan to order seeds early in the 
season. If you put off doing this until the 
reason of gardening operations is opening, you 

i68 



The Gardener's Calendar 



may be disappointed in getting them when 
wanted, and you take the chances of getting 
a poorer quality. 

Don't let the pages of the catalogues devoted 
to novelties'' tempt you into investing in 
new things. Not one ''novelty" in a himdred 
is worth growing. Hold fast to the varieties 
whose merit has been amply proved. 

Go over the garden tools and make what- 
ever repairs may be needed. It is a most 
vexatious thing to find that a garden tool, 
when you need it, is out of repair, and you 
must stop and put it in proper shape. 

It is a good plan to give all woodwork about 
garden tools a coat or two of paint. They will 
last enough longer to make it richly worth 
while. 

Racks and trellises can be made now. Posts 
for stringing wires on to support grape-vines, 
raspberries, and the like can be got ready now. 
Racks for tomatoes should be very substantially 
made, as they will have to sustain considerable 
weight. 

Think out the work that will be upon you 
with a rush a little later, and do all of it that 
can be done in advance. 

i6g 



The Home Garden 



FEBRUARY 

Hot-beds for very early plants can be made 
this month. See chapter on Hot-beds and 
Cold-Frames for directions. 

Mushrooms can be grown at this season as 
well as any other if the proper degree of tem- 
perature can be maintained. 

If the cellar supply of salsify and parsnip 
has run short, plants can be dug from the open 
ground with but little difficulty, if the snow is 
not deep. Chop down about the roots with an 
old axe, cutting the frozen earth away as if it 
were wood. The roots will generally come out 
whole and uninjured, if you work carefully. 

If potatoes, cabbages, and other vegetables 
have been stored in pits, they can be got at 
safely, on pleasant days, if care is taken to 
bank up the opening well afterward. Vege- 
tables kept in this way will be found to have 
a most delicious flavor after having eaten 
cellar-stored ones for several months. 

Pruning of all kinds of fruit-trees is now in 
order. Let your knife be sharp, that it may 
make a smooth cut. It is well to go over the 
cut surface with a coat of good paint, immedi- 
ately after pruning. 

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The Gardener's Calendar 



Look over the vegetables in the cellar and 
remove all that show the least indication of 
decay. This will be for the benefit of the 
remaining vegetables, as well as for the health 
of the family. 

This is a good time of the year in which to 
draw up your garden plans. Don^t be satisfied 
with the first plan. Look it over sharply and 
see if it cannot be improved. Plan for economy 
of space as weU as labor. Too many gardens 
are simply jumbled together. No attention is 
given to orderly arrangement. The result is 
unsatisfactory from all points of view. Study 
up on the habits of the plants you intend to 
grow, and locate them in such a manner that 
there will be no interference between them, 
as they develop. This can easily be done if you 
give the matter a little careful consideration. 

MARCH 

Hot-bed making will now be in order. Do 
the work carefully, if you want good results. 

Get the cold-frames ready for the reception 
of plants from the hot-bed as soon as they are 
in a condition to make the change. The longer 
a plant is left in the hot-bed after it is ready 

171 



The Home Garden 



for the cold-frame, the less strength it will 
have. 

Give the hot-bed close attention after seed 
is sown in it. After the plants are up, open 
the sash just a little, in pleasant ^veather, to 
let moisture escape which has gathered on the 
glass. But do not keep it open for more than 
a minute or two at a time, and never open it 
when the wind, blows from a quarter that will 
let it strike on the plants, unless you can shield 
them from the draught. 

If w^ater is to be given, apply it from a pot 
having a fine-spray nozzle, and let it be of the 
temperature of the air inside the hot-bed. Use 
as Httle as possible. Aim to keep the soil 
moist, not wet. 

If the snow has gone, boxes and barrels can 
be placed about clumps of rhubarb to encourage 
an early gro\\i:h. Bank up about them with 
horse-manure. Cover the barrels or boxes at 
night. In fact, keep them covered, day and 
night, until the plants begin to grow. 

If you cannot have a hot-bed, plants can be 
started in boxes in the living-room. They will 
not do as well as in the hot-bed, but, with 
careful management, they can be forced to 

172 



The Gardener's Calendar 



make a fairly healthy growth. Care must be 
taken to give only enough water to keep the 
soil moist, but, on no accotmt, must it be 
allowed to get dry, for that would mean the 
loss of 3^our seedlings. Apply water with a 
fine sprayer. A stream would be likely to wash 
some of the plants out of the ground. Aim to 
keep the temperature as even as possible, 
ranging from 65° to 70° by day, and about 10^ 
lower at night. Do not fail to admit fresh air 
to the room daily. This can be done safely, 
on cold days, by opening a door or window at 
some distance from the plants, and letting the 
outdoor air become warm before it reaches 
them, by mixing with the air of the room. 
Expose the plants to all the simshine possible. 
The principal danger in growing seedlings in 
the Hving-room comes from excessive heat, 
too much moisture in the soil, and too little 
in the air of the room. Keep basins of water 
constantly evaporating on the stove. Sprinkle 
about the plants, but do not throw any water 
on them. 

It is well to keep these plants in a room 
adjoining that in which there is fire heat, after 
the second or third week, as they will do better 

173 



The Home Garden 



there than in a warmer place. The aim is to 
give them a good start-off without forcing 
them. A forced growth is always an unhealthy 
one, remember. In too hot a room they grow 
up weak and spindling, and are generally so 
lacking in vital force that plants grown from 
seed sown in the open ground a month or six 
weeks later are almost sure to get ahead of 
them before they have recovered from the 
check of transplanting. 

It is a most excellent plan to put these plants 
out of doors on warm, sunshiny days, for two 
or three hours during the middle of the day, 
if they can be given a place sheltered from the 
wind. Be sure to bring them in before the 
temperature begins to fall, as it will about 
three o'clock, or perhaps earlier. 

Cabbages which have been wintered in pits 
can be taken out now, their outside leaves cut 
away, and the heads stored in the cellar for 
immediate use. It is not safe to leave them 
where the water from the upper soil will get 
to them. 

APRIL 

If currants and gooseberries were not 
trimmed in fall, go over the bushes now and 

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The Gardener's Calendar 



cut out all weak wood. If it is thick, thin it 

considerably. Manure liberally. 

All kinds of small fruit can be set out as soon 
as the ground is in good working condition. 
But do not be in too great a hurry, and 
plant it in mud. 

Unleached wood-ashes and bone meal, mixed, 
make an excellent manure for garden crops 
and small fruit. Do not fail to make use of it 
if you are short on bam-yard fertilizer. Apply 
a top dressing of it to grapes, currants and 
gooseberries early in the season. 

Peas should be sown after the middle of the 
month, if the soil is in a condition to warrant. 

The hardier kinds of garden vegetables can 
be put into the ground the latter part of the 
month, along the central and southern portion 
of the northern states, if the season has not 
been cold and backward. If it has, it is better 
to wait a little. Nothing is gained by being 
in too much of a hurry. Often all is lost and 
all has to be done over. 

Remove the winter miulching from the straw- 
berry bed. Make new beds, if you did not set 
out plants last year. Work the ground over 
thoroughly, and use only strong, vigorous 

175 



The Home Garden 



plants. It pays to buy your plants from the 
dealer, rather than to pick them up all over 
the neighborhood. You have to buy them, if 
you want to be sure of what you are planting. 

Seedlings can be transplanted from hot-bed 
to cold-frame. Remove the sashes daily from 
the latter, to harden off the plants in them. 

Plow the garden, or spade it, as soon as the 
ground is rid of surplus moisture. 

MAY 

The cultivator will have to be used exten- 
sively this month, for weeds start early in the 
season, and we must get (and keep) ahead. 

Sow dandelion for future use, as soon as its 
seed ripens. 

Insects must be watched carefully now. It 
is a good plan to sift dry wood-ashes over such 
plants as cabbage, radish, potato, cucumber 
and squash, to prevent the flea-beetle from 
establishing himself there. The Colorado beetle 
is often found on potato plants as soon as they 
appear above the ground. 

Never loose sight of the fact that a little 
work done now will save a good deal of hard 
work later on. 

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The Gardener's Calendar 



Stake and tie up all vines that require such 
attention before much growth has been made. 

Go over newly-set strawberry beds and pick 
off every fruit-stalk. Force the strength of 
the plant into the development of itself, rather 
than that of fruit, which it is not in a condition 
to mature satisfactorily. 

Begin the use of the wheel-hoe as soon as 
the plants in the row are large enough to enable 
you to tell them from weeds. This implement 
and the cultivator must be kept going daily, 
even if there are few weeds to get rid of. Stir- 
ring the soil is a matter of almost as great 
importance as keeping the weeds down. 

JUNE 

Do not cut asparagus much after this month. 
Apply fertilizer, and keep the ground clean 
and open. Be on the lookout for ''rust.'' If 
you see any indication of it, apply Bordeaux 
mixture at once. 

Look out for worms among currants. A 
little neglect may result in the loss of the entire 
crop. 

Set out celery for the main crop. 

Use Bordeaux mixture on the grapes. Thin 

12 177 



The Home Garden 



out the fruit, leaving not more than half that 
sets. Rub off all but the branches you intend 
for next year's fruiting. Keep the ground 
about the vines well stirred. 

If a shiny black and green bug threatens to 
injure your melons, cucumbers, and squashes, 
make a sort of box of fine wire netting and 
place it over the plants. Bank up soil about 
it to prevent the enemy from working its way 
under. 

Transplanted seedlings will need shading 
until they became established in their new 
quarters. I make a protection against the sun 
by cutting circular pieces of thick brown paper, 
a foot across. This I double over on one side, 
in such a manner as to give the paper a sort of 
funnel shape. Through the doubled-over por- 
tion I run a stick or wire, about a foot in length. 
This holds the cone in place, and the lower end 
of the stick or wire can be thrust into the 
ground, close to the plant needing protection 
Thus I get all the shade required without 
shutting off a free circulation of air. 

Go over the strawberry beds and nip off all 
the early runners. Allow none to grow until 
after the season's crop of fruit has ripened. 

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The Gardener's Calendar 

Cultivate, cultivate, cultivate. 

Be constantly on the outlook for all kinds 
of worms and insects, and wage relentless war- 
fare against them, for now is the time when 
they do most damage to the garden. 

Thin out the seedlings in the garden-rows, 
leaving only as many plants there as you think 
can be matured properly. Do not neglect to 
do this, at once, as you cannot afford to have 
the nutriment of the soil wasted on plants you 
have no use for. 

JULY 

July work will be largely a continuance of 
the work of June. Special suggestions will 
hardly be needed for it. The careful gardener 
will keep his eyes open and see what needs 
doing, and do it promptly, and thus be always 
abreast of his work if not ahead of it. 

If the season should be a dry and hot one, 
mulching will be advisable. Grass-clippings 
from the lawn can be used to good advantage 
about all garden vegetables. 

I would not advise one to begin watering 
the garden, unless there is a system of water- 
works that can be pressed into use. Not much 
can be done in the ordinary garden by watering 

179 



The Home Garden 



from the well. You would have to give up all 
3^our time to it if you were to attempt this. 
Generally more harm than good results. You 
will apply only water enough to wet the surface 
of the soil, and it is the roots down deep in the 
ground that need moisture. Surface-watering 
encourages the production of surface roots, 
and you do not want that kind of growth. I 
would prefer to let the plants take their chances 
without such watering. But mulching is 
practicable and profitable. 

Old straw or hay make a very satisfactory 
mulch. It should be put on quite thick — thick 
enough to thoroughly shade the ground and 
prevent the escape of moisture from the soil 
below. 

But the use of the cultivator should be de- 
pended on to cotmteract the effects of drought, 
more than anything else. Stir the soil so 
frequently that it does not have a chance to 
crust over. Keep it in a condition to absorb 
every least little bit of moisture that may be 
in the air. If this is done, most plants will 
stand a dry spell without injury. 

As soon as the radishes are out of the way, 
sow the ground they occupied to spinach or 

i8o 



The Gardener's Calendar 



something that can be made use of as greens. 
Never let any portion of the garden go to 
waste. 

AUGUST 

Asparagus plants are now storing up material 
for next season's crop. Feed them well by 
giving a liberal top-dressing of fine manure, 
or some rehable commercial fertilizer. See 
that no weeds are allowed to grow among the 
plants. 

Right here I want to say that the average 
gardener seems to lose a good deal of interest 
in a plant as soon as the crop of the season has 
been secured from it. This is all wrong. If it 
is a plant that lasts over the season, like aspara- 
gus or rhubarb, treat it .with a view to the 
future. Have next season's crop in mind, and 
so care for the plants that they will be getting 
ready for it. This they cannot do satisfactorily 
if care is not given them throughout the season, 
year after year. 

If you think it advisable to grow your own 
seed, save some of the earliest of each kind for 
this particular purpose. It is a good plan to 
hold a plant in reserve for seed-bearing, and 

i8i 



The Home Garden 



give it the very best of treatment. Do not let 
it exhaust itself by overbearing. Pick off all 
the seed that forms after the first crop, and 
throw the entire strength of the plant into the 
perfecting of that. This is the only way in 
which extra fine seed can be grown by the 
home gardener. Too many amateurs seem to 
think that seed is seed, and it does not matter 
much how you come by it. But they will find, 
if they continue in the gardening business long, 
that plants from seed w^hich has not been 
grown with a view to making it the best of its 
kind will soon ''run out,'' and give most un- 
satisfactory results. 

Now is the time to pinch off the ends of the 
blackberry canes, and induce the production 
of side branches. 

The earlier varieties of cabbage should be 
disposed of as soon as they are thoroughly 
matured, and the ground on which they grew 
given up to some other crop. 

Set out celery for a late crop. 

As soon as the earlier plantings of celery 
begin to make upward growth, begin prepara- 
tions for blanching, either by earthing up about 
the plants, or by setting boards up each side 

182 



The Gardener's Calendar 



the row. Some do this by wrapping the plants 
with thick brown paper. Others set a piece of 
drain-tile over the plants. This is an excellent 
plan, if one has plenty of tile at disposal. 

Keep the late crops of celery going rapidly 
ahead by thorough cultivation. The more 
rapid its growth the more likely you will be 
to secure a fine article. Slow-growing celery 
is a poor investment. 

If you want your cucumbers to keep on 
bearing late in the season it will be necessary 
to see that no fruit is allowed to ripen. All 
the energy of the plant will be used up in 
the development of seed, if you allow it to 
have its own way. But interfere with it by 
preventing it from perfecting seed and it will 
at once set about making another effort to 
carry out Nature's plan of perpetuation, and, 
in doing this, it will keep on setting new fruit 
tmtil frost comes. 

Now is a good time to make currant cuttings. 

Keep endive plants growing thriftily by the 
liberal use of manure and good cultivation. 

Lettuce can be sown for a late crop. 

Gooseberries can be grown from cuttings, 
but layering will be found the safest and surest 

183 



The Home Garden 



method of propagation. Select shoots which 
start from near the base of the old plants. 
Bend them down so that they will form a 
curve whose centre can be covered with earth, 
and at the lowest part of this curve make a 
half-way cut through each shoot, from below. 
Then cover to the depth of two or three inches. 
Fasten the shoots firmly in place, so that they 
cannot be shifted about by winds. This can 
be done by pinning them to the soil, or a small 
stone can be placed on the earth with which 
they are covered. The extremity of the shoot 
should be trained into upright position by tying 
it to a small stake. Do not sever the layer 
from the parent plant until next season. 

Harvest the onions which have begun to 
ripen off. You can tell this by the dying of 
their tops. Let the bulbs lie on the ground, 
exposed to full sunshine, for several days 
before storing them away. Put in a cool, dry, 
airy place. 

Sow spinach for a late crop. 

Look to the tomatoes. Make sure they are 
not setting more fruit than they can mature 
well. If you think they are, cut off the ends 
of each vine. This will force them to expend 

184 



The Gardener's Calendar 



all the strength of the plant on, the fruit already 
set, and the result will be vastly more satis- 
factory than a crop of inferior fruit. In this 
way w^e grow very large specimens, of finest 
possible quality. If no racks have been pro- 
vided for your plants, set some stakes along 
the row, and nail strips to them about a foot 
and a half from the groimd, and put the vines 
over them. This will allow a freer circulation 
of air and have a tendency to prevent rot from 
setting in, as it almost always will late in the 
season, if the vines of this plant are allowed to 
spread over the groimd, shutting the simshine 
away from the partially grown fruit and keep- 
ing it moist. 

If there are lice on your cabbages, make 
prompt use of the kerosene emulsion. You 
need not be afraid of its injuring the plants in 
any way, and no poisoning can possibly result 
from it. Worms on cabbages can be controlled 
by dusting the plants with air-slaked lime. 

If your celery does not seem to be making a 
satisfactory growth, it is possible that the 
manure you have applied was not to its liking. 
A little nitrate of soda w^orked into the soil 
along the row will make a great difference in 

185 



The Home Garden 



its appearance, in a short time, in a good many- 
soils. It is well worth your while to try it, 
and harm cannot come of it if no benefit 
results. Keep all experiments of this kind in 
mind for future repetition in case they turn 
out successfully. 

If *'rust'' has struck your asparagus plants, 
cut and burn them at once. Very likely none 
would have developed if you had made use 
of Bordeaux mixture as soon as the plants 
began to look yellow. When any plant takes 
on a yellow look before it is time for it to ripen, 
you may be sure there is something wrong, 
somewhere. Search for the cause of trouble, 
and see if something cannot be done to remedy 
matters. 

It is not too late to spray potatoes for blight 
and rot. These troubles are likely to set in at 
any time during the season. It is the late 
blight which does the most damage. 

Strawberry plants can be set out this month. 
Mulch the beds as soon as possible after plant- 
ing. Give the plants a chance to do well, 
from the start, and you may reasonably expect 
a good crop from them next season. 



i86 



The Gardener's Calendar 



SEPTEMBER 

This is the month in which the amateur 
gardener will be most likely to get the 
greatest amount of pleasure from his garden. 
This because there are so many substantial 
results in the way of vegetables and fruit, 
showing what can be accomplished with but 
little trouble if one goes to work in the 
right way. 

In this connection I want to quote a para- 
graph from the National Fruit-Grower : " 
*'What a pitiful sight it is to see a woman so 
himgry for a little fruit that she will drag 
herself through briars and bushes all day to 
gather a few quarts of blackberries, or wild 
gooseberries, when, for a few cents and a little 
use of spare time, her husband could have 
provided plenty of both at home, of a quality 
so much superior to the small flavorless fruit 
she tires herself out looking for that she would 
hardly recognize the two specimens as belong- 
ing to the same family. Frankly, we haven't 
much of an opinion of a man who is too blind 
to his own interests, and the interests of his 
family, to not have a garden and all the small 
fruits his family can make use of." 

187 



The Home Garden 



September will prove to any man who is 
open to conviction that a good garden, and a 
small-fruit plantation, are among the best of 
all investments it is possible for him to make. 
He can live on the fat of the land now. Every- 
thing of the best and freshest in the vegetable 
line is at his disposal, and if he grows his own 
grapes, blackberries and other fruits, he is an 
independent man, and he has reason to be 
proud of his riches. He has no need to envy 
the man who has a great bank account. His 
garden is his bank — not on a very large scale, 
perhaps, but one that is not likely to fail, and 
from which he will realize compound interest 
on his investments in it. I wish every amateur 
gardener, at this time of the year, would think 
the matter over, and '*take stock'' of his 
wealth in garden stuff. 

The tops of asparagus can be mowed off, 
to prevent the scattering of seed, w^hich will 
produce a set of plants that you will have no 
use for. New beds can be made now. 

Do not cultivate among blackberries and 
other small fruit after this month. Continued 
cultivation encourages continued growth. Late 
growth of branches is very undesirable. 

i88 



The Gardener's Calendar 

Sow cress, for fall use in salads. Its pungent 
flavor is delightful. Make the soil rich, to 
insure a speedy growth. 

Continue to give careful attention to the 
late-crop celery. Save the ''suds" of washing- 
day, and use along the rows. In blanching 
with boards, see that they are set close to the 
plants, and make sure that they are wide 
enough to reach to the tops of the plants, when 
the latter have reached full development. 
Anything narrower than that will result in 
half-way blanching, for unless light is excluded 
from all but the tips of the plants they will be 
tough and strong-flavored. 

Continue the fight with the weeds. It will 
be well to make a special search for them. Let 
none perfect seed. If this policy is adhered to, 
throughout the season, next year there will 
be few weeds to fight. 

Gather seed of such vegetables as you have 
grown for this particular purpose. 

Harvest your peppers before the frost gets 
a chance at them. 

Be sure to protect the squashes from frost if 
you want them to keep well. If they do not 
seem to have thoroughly ripened, cover them 

189 



The Home Garden 



at night with blankets, or old newspapers. 
When they have every appearance of being ripe, 
gather them, and store in a warm, dry place. 
Handle them with extreme care, for every bruise 
means decay, later on. Do not cut away the 
stalks which attaches them to the vine. Save 
this with them, if you want them to keep well. 

Gather in the onion crop as soon as the tops 
turn brown and crinkle down. Pull them, 
leave them on the beds, in the sun, for two or 
three days, and then *'top" them, and store 
away in a cool and airy place. 

This is a good time of the year to think about 
making a compost-bed. Most gardeners allow 
a great deal of good material to go to waste 
simply because they have no place to keep it 
in. You will be surprised to find what an 
amount of excellent fertilizer is thrown away, 
after you have had a compost-bed for a year 
or two. Make a pen in a comer of the garden, 
and throw into it everything of a vegetable 
nature that will decay readily. Rake up the 
leaves from the lawn and add to it. If you get 
a little extra manure, at any time, dum^p it in. 
Stir frequently, with a fork, and thoroughly 
saturate it, on every washing-day, with soap- 

190 



The Gardener's Calendar 



suds. When you clear up the garden in fall, 
put all the stalks and other refuse into the 
compost-heap. In this way you will soon have 
a lot of good, rich soil without its costing you 
anything but a little labor. It is a good plan 
to add sand to it, muck, old sods, from time 
to time, — anything that will become fine and 
mellow after being worked over with other 
material. The compost-heap will give you just 
the kind of soil you need for early seed-sowing, 
and hot-bed use. 

Sweet potatoes should be dug as soon as the 
frost has killed their tops. Dry off well in the 
sim, for two or three days, and store in a warm 
place, or pack in dry sand. Be sure that it is 
very dry, if you would have the tubers keep 
well. Home-grown ones that have thoroughly 
ripened will be found to be of much finer flavor 
than those which were dug while partially 
green, and have come a long distance to market. 

OCTOBER 

Potatoes should be dug this month. Reject 
any tuber which is not perfectly healthy. It is 
a good plan to grade them, as you gather them, 
that is, throw out all not large enough for 

191 



The Home Garden 



cooking purposes. It doesn't pay to store away 
any that are too small for household use. 
Better give them to the chickens, or the pigs. 

Many successful growers of the strawberry 
make a practice of burning over their beds 
this month, first mowing them. It certainly 
does some good, for all larvae of worms and 
insects will be gotten rid of by it, and if there 
are no weeds in the beds there will not be 
material enough for the fire to feed on to do 
any damage. 

Winter mulching of strawberries should be 
done about the time the ground is likely to 
freeze, but not before. If put on too early, the 
plants may make a late growth, especially if 
the weather is warm. Leaves are excellent 
material for this purpose, if you can get enough 
of them. The only objection to them is that 
they are so easily blown away. This difficulty 
can be remedied, however, by putting a light 
covering of hay or straw over the leaves. 

Go over the garden and give it a thorough 
cleaning-up before cold weather sets in. The 
gardener who takes pride in his garden in 
summer ought to have pride in it in winter. 
Make the ground perfectly clean. Remove 

192 



The Gardener's Calendar 



every rack and trellis. Store them away under 
shelter. In short, leave nothing out-doors that 
belongs under cover. 

Pits for potatoes and other vegetables are 
easily made. Select for them a location that 
is high and dry. A well-drained spot is abso- 
lutely necessary. If you cannot have one that 
has the best of drainage, don't attempt to 
have a pit. 

In making the pit, dig down for a foot and a 
half into the soil. Lay down some boards, as 
a sort of floor, and spread clean dry straw over 
them to the depth of five or six inches. Put 
your vegetables on this. Do not put enough 
into the pit to bring the top above the level 
of the ground. When it is filled, spread dry 
straw over the vegetables — a foot or more of 
it, or leaves, if you have them, to the depth of 
six or eight inches — ^being careful to make it 
even, and to see that there are no openings in 
it. Then cover with earth. Put on all that 
was thrown out of the pit, heaping it up well 
in the centre. Pack it down firmly. It is well 
to cover the pit with boards, or something 
that will have a tendency to shed rain. If the 
earth is properly put on, and is made high in 
13 193 



The Home Garden 



the centre, it is not Hkely that water will work 
through, but one cannot be too sure that it 
will not, and water in a pit means disaster. 

Cabbages can be wintered to perfection by 
the trench system. Dig a trench a foot or a 
foot and a half in depth, in the dryest part of 
the garden. Let it be a little wider than the 
heads you propose to bury there. Select for 
this purpose the soundest heads you have. Do 
not trim them. Simply fold the outside leaves 
as firmly as possible over the head. Put six 
or eight inches of straw in the bottom of the 
trench and set the cabbages on it, head down- 
ward. Then put more straw about them, and 
throw back the soil from the trench. If there 
is not enough to cover the roots of the plants, 
it will not matter. You are not covering them 
to keep out the frost. Nail two boards to- 
gether to make a sort of roof, and put these 
over the trench to shed rain. You will find 
that cabbages kept in this manner will come 
out in spring in fine condition. If frozen when 
removed from the trench, put them in a cool 
place where the frost will leave them gradually, 
or, if for immediate use, immerse the head in 
cold water. If you put them where it is warm 

194 



The Gardener's Calendar 



immediately after removal from the pit, they 
will wilt, and if there is a poorer vegetable 
than a wilted cabbage I don't know what it is. 

Parsnips, salsify, and turnips can be wintered 
safely in pits. 

Prepare cold-frames for late celery. Let 
them be deep enough to accommodate the 
plant without bending down its top. Bank 
up about them with earth. Get sashes ready 
for them. About the last of the month take 
up the plants from the garden, and pack them 
away snugly inside the frame. Crowd them 
together, in fact. Then water well. Do not 
put on the sash right away, unless the weather 
is very cold. You can throw a blanket over 
the frame at night to prevent freezing. 

NOVEMBER 

Go over the blackberries and raspberries, 
and make sure that all old wood has been 
removed before you lay your plants down for 
the winter. Choose a pleasant day for laying 
your plants down. If the weather is cold and 
raw, the probabilities are that you will not do 
a very thorough job. But never lose sight of 
the fact that it pays to be thorough. 

195 



The Home Garden 



Spinach can be kept until Christmas if given 
a light protection of leaves or litter. 

Lettuce in cold-frames will need plenty of 
air. The temperature ought to be about 55^. 
More harm is done by keeping the plants too 
warm than too cold. On cold nights, cover 
the sash with mats or shutters. Air daily. 

Do not forget that mushrooms can be grown 
at any season of the year, if you can control 
temperature. 

Dig salsify and parsnips and store those 
wanted for early use in the cellar. The main 
crop I would advise storing in pits. Some can 
be left in the ground, for spring use. 

I do not know whether anyone but myself 
has ever tried wintering the parsnip in such a 
manner that it will wilt, without really drying 
up, but I am of the opinion that it is greatly 
improved. The juices of the plant seem to 
be condensed, and thereby gain a sweetness 
which a perfectly fresh, plump root does not 
have. I found this out accidentally, but ever 
since we have stored away a portion of our 
parsnips on racks where they will wither a 
trifle, but not become really dry, and every 
one in the family declares them far better than 

196 



The Gardener's Calendar 



those taken right from the ground or pit. Try 
this plan, and see what you think of it. 

The garden may be plowed now. Do not 
attempt to level the ground. Leave it in 
ridges, so that frost can get at it easily. 

Give rhubarb and asparagus a good top dress- 
ing of fine manure, and then cover with coarse 
litter. Take up a few plants and put them in 
a box, for winter forcing. Or, if there is room 
for them, give them a place in the cold-frame. 
The cellar, however, will be the best place for 
them, if you can give them light. 

DECEMBER 

There will be little to do this month in con- 
nection with the garden, if ever;^i:hing was 
given the attention it deserved last month. It 
may be well to go over it again, and make a 
final clearing-up, however, to make sure that 
nothing was left undone. 

Let me caution the reader as to the care of 
the cellar in which vegetables are stored. See 
that it is so well banked that frost cannot 
penetrate it. But make ample provision for 
ventilation. Have a pipe or wooden tube con- 
nected with one of the windows in such a man- 

197 



The Home Garden 



ner that the air will be drawn from the cellar 
through it. This will not only help to keep 
the vegetables in good condition, but will 
possibly prevent sickness in the family, if the 
cellar happens to be under the living-rooms. 
Decaying vegetable matter often gives rise to 
fevers and other dangerous diseases. If an 
outlet for foul gases is provided, this source of 
danger will be removed. 



INDEX 



Asparagus, 127. i8r, 186 
beetle, 129 

Beans, bush, 83 

pole, 83 
Beds, 38, 44 
Beets, 84 
Blackberry, 144 

protection in winter, 151 
Bordeaux mixture, 78 

Cabbage, 86, 174. I94 
Carrots, 88 
Cauliflower, 89 
Celery, 90, 93 

well-blanched, 189 
Cold-frame, 72, 167, 171 

temperature, 73 
Compost-bed, 190 
Com, 38, 94 
Cress, 189 
Cucumber, 38, 96 
Cultivation, 40 
Currant, 155, 174, 177 

-borer, 159 

-worm, 158 

Dandelion, 121 
Dill, 126 
Drainage, 25 

Endive, 124 

Fertilizers, 42 

commercial, 32 
Frost, 29, 71, 90 
Fruit-trees, pruning, 170 
Fungicide, standard, 78 

Garden, arrangement of, 36, 39, 46 
fall cleaning, 30 
ideal, 21 
implements, 51 
location, 21 
spaded, 35 



Gardener's Calendar, 167 

January, 167 

February, 170 

March, 171 

April, 174 

May, 176 

June, 177 

July, 179 

August, 181 

September, 187 

October, 191 

November, 195 

December, 197 
Gooseberry, 160, 174 
Grape, 161, 177 

-pruning, 162 
Greens, 121 

Harrow, 34 

Horseradish, 123, 125 

Hot-bed, 41, 44, 62, 64, 67, 70, 118, 

167, 170 

Insecticides, 75 
Insects, 40, 57, 79, 176 

Kerosene emulsion, 76 

Lettuce, 98, 123, 196 

Manure, 29, 31 
Melons, 98 
Moisture, 33 
Mulching, 175, 180, 186 
Mushrooms, loi, 170 
Mustard, 123 

Okra, 108 

Onion, 103, 184, 190 

Parsley, 104 
Parsnip, 105, 196 
Peas, 106, 175 
late. 108 



199 



INDEX 



Pepper, 109 

plants, 124 
Pits, storage, 170, I93 
Plowing, deep or shallow. 34 

fall, 28 

spring, 28 
Potato, 38, 47, no, 176, 191 

blight and scab, 112 

fertilizers, m 
Pumpkin, 113 

Radish, 115 
Raspberry, 143 

protection in winter, 151 
Refuse, burning, 30 
Rhubarb, 131 
Rotation of crops, 42 
Rows, direction of, 22 

planting, 38 
Rutabaga, 120 

Sage, 123 
Salsify, ii6, 196 
Seed drill, 53 
Seeds, 45, 47 
Seed-sowing, 47 



Slopes, south, 21 

Small fruit, 17s, 187 

Soil, 21, 32, 4i» 45. 47. 63, no, 180 

Spinach, 123 

Spraying apparatus, 57 

Squash, 38, 117 

Strawberry, 134. i77, 178. l86 

Summer savory, 123 

Sunshine, benefit of, 22 

Sweet basil, 126 

Sweet marjoram, 126 

Sweet potato, 113, 191 

Swiss chard, 126 

Tomato, 118, 184 
Transplanting, 64 
Trellises, 169 
Turnip, 120 

Vegetables requiring support, 38 
tall-growing, 39 
tenderness and flavor, 23 
very early, 74 

Watermelons, 10 1 

Weeds, 36, 40, 56, 60, 63. 189 

Wood-ashes, I7S 



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